CCN spoke to Honeywell’s chief technology officer Dr Ian Shankland on a recent trip to Australia to promote the results of the company’s recent research and development efforts, which have led to the creation of a new family of low global warming potential (GWP) products.
Honeywell has invested heavily in its new range of solutions, called Soltice, which are based on new hydrofluoro-olefin technology that will help customers reduce their carbon footprint without sacrificing performance.
Honeywell CTO Dr Ian Shankland said some of the solutions are still in the process of being commercialised but the Soltice family includes refrigerants, blowing agents, propellants and solvents.
“We began research and development to identify ultra low material about 10 years ago,” Shankland said.
“The goal was to identify materials that are environmentally effective for end users and still economically acceptable.
“The environmental breakthrough for the Solstice family of products is the molecular structure which imparts a short atmospheric lifetime, which means a low Global Warming Potential (GWP).”
Solutions available today include HFO-1234yf, the new mobile air conditioning refrigerant, and HFO-1234ze, a new blowing agent and propellant.
HFO-1234yf has a GWP of four, which is 99.7 per cent less than the commonly used HFC R134a, which has a GWP of 1430.
Solstice 1234ze is a gaseous blowing agent and propellant that is being used in aerosols and extruded polystyrene board applications.
It has a GWP of six and replaces R134a as well as R152a, which has a GWP of 142.
“Further development and testing is underway and we expect to launch a number of products next year, including refrigerant for chillers and foaming applications,” Shankland said.
“A number of the new molecules developed by Honeywell have been approved for use by national regulatory authorities in the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea.”
To support Solstice, Shankland said Honeywell is developing product literature with guidelines on how to use the solutions responsibly.
He said the design focus has been on making sure the products are as close as possible to being “drop-in” solutions so there are few changes to the system.
“Admittedly there are always some subtle differences but we are trying to assist customers with as much information as possible,” he said.
Honeywell literature describes fluorocarbon technology as safe because it is nonflammable with a low order of toxicity, which makes them significantly safer in use than alternatives such as hydrocarbons and ammonia, which are either extremely flammable or highly toxic.
HFO-1234yf has undergone extensive safety testing by independent groups such as the SAE International Cooperative Research Program.
Shankland said the testing found the product offers environmental performance superior to carbon dioxide, another potential low GWP refrigerant. “It had the lowest risk for use in mobile air conditioning systems in meeting environmental and consumer needs,” he said.
There are an estimated 400 million cars with air conditioning systems globally, with each system using between one half and one kilogram of refrigerant.
While in Australia, Shankland spent a number of days in Adelaide before travelling to Melbourne to meet refrigerant customers.
He then went to Canberra to meet with the federal government, including the ozone and synthetic gas team.
Shankland updated the synthetic gas team on Honeywell’s new family of low GWP alternatives, adding that the discussion did include carbon pricing and the HFC levy.
When questioned about the controversial topic, Shankland said greenhouse gas regulations generally are “a prudent thing to do”.
But when it comes to the levy, “this particular mechanism is not my first choice”, he said.
“Look at the Montreal Protocol, which has been immensely successful and is a great, global example of what works.”
Solstice has certainly gathered momentum in recent months with the Whirlpool Corporation announcing that its refrigerators will use Honeywell’s Solstice liquid blowing agent.
Honeywell says the product outperforms commonly used hydrocarbons such as C-pentane, providing better insulation and higher energy savings.
Tests show Solstice is an improvement over 245fa, currently the most widely used foam blowing agent in the US.
The development of HFO-1234yf, was part of a joint technology development with DuPont.
The two companies worked on HFO-1234yf but are marketing and selling products separately.
The president of chemicals and fluoroproducts at DuPont, Gary Spitzer, said the two companies worked together so industry could realise environmental benefits much sooner.
“The new refrigerant enables the automotive industry to reduce the environmental footprint of vehicles at significantly lower cost than alternatives,” Spitzer said.
While Honeywell is marketing its solution as Soltice, DuPont has adopted Opteon as the name for its product range.
DuPont will showcase the new solutions at Chillventa in Nuremberg from October 9-11, 2012.
Besides Opteon XP10, which is for medium-temperature applications, the company will show products for potential use in air conditioning equipment and heat pumps.
DuPont will also provide information on the ISCEON 9-series portfolio, a family of products designed specifically to enable easy conversion of existing R22 refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, allowing end users to continue to utilise their existing equipment for the remainder of its useful life.
At the Chillventa event, experts from the company will talk about the current development status of low-GWP technologies in various applications and highlight the dangers of counterfeit refrigerants which is a growing problem.
Opteon XP10 is an alternative to R134a in commercial refrigeration applications.
It has a GWP value of 600 but has similar thermodynamic properties to R134a and is non-flammable.
DuPont is also testing replacements for R404A/R507, R410A and R123.
The company is also introducing a new HFO molecule known as DR-2, which is suitable for use in high-temperature heat pumps, the organic rankine cycle process, chillers operating with low pressure technology and heat transfer fluid.
DuPont said the ISCEON 9-series has become a leading solution for the efficient transition out of R22 in existing equipment.
It enables the use of existing equipment without costly replacement or extensive modification measures.
Peter Brodribb, managing director of the Expert Group, said Daikin-Arkema also had several low GWP products under development.
“As promising and attractive as these initiatives are, the release to the market of new refrigerants with novel properties is likely to require rigorous testing by environmental and safety authorities,” Brodribb said.
“They will want to avoid similar perverse outcomes and unintended consequences of earlier generations of refrigerant gases.”
Meanwhile, Emerson Climate Technologies has developed a compressor which runs on the environmentally friendly R290 refrigerant at its plant in India.
R290 is a natural hydrocarbon refrigerant with zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and a low GWP, as defined by the Kyoto Protocol.
In commercial refrigeration applications, these new R290 compressors are more efficient than other chemical refrigerants, according to the company.