Hydrocarbon refrigerants

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol will help increase investment in natural refrigerant technologies, according to the French government.

In the late 1980s, those of us of a certain age became familiar with an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol. The goal of this agreement was the phaseout of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants. Then, in 1999, Title VI of the U.S. Clean Air Act was modified to phase out high global-warming hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. Now, once again, the fix has been deemed inadequate, and we are being asked to jump into a new generation of refrigerants.

The amended refrigeration and air conditioning directive, which entered into force on 1 January, will subsidise the installation of natural refrigerant-based systems in Germany.

The “natural” refrigerants media group Shecco has called for a far more stringent agreement on HFC refrigerant phase downs than that achieved at Kigali.

Among the more than 75 educational sessions, many are related to natural refrigerant technologies.

The first round of case studies showcasing innovations for industry leaders has been selected for ATMOsphere Japan 2017.

Export association Asocolflores replaces R22-based system with R290 in a cold storage facility for flowers, achieving energy savings of 20%.

Low training uptake is creating a long-term shortage of technicians trained to operate natural refrigerant systems and ultimately making it harder to deliver the EU’s f-gas phase-down, warns an upcoming European Commission report.

The import, production, export and supply of HFCs in Europe are all falling, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Regulation governing hydrocarbons must be adapted to encourage wider rollout of hydrocarbons for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump applications, according to a draft European Commission report to be published under the EU’s F-Gas Regulation on phasing down HFC use.

The outdoor plug-and-play unit, which contains 12 l of R290, is designed for small stores.

The European Commission sees current flammable refrigerant standards as a barrier to low GWP alternatives and recommends that these should be urgently addressed.

Standards, codes and legislation must be adapted to encourage wider rollout of HFC alternatives, argues an upcoming European Commission report.

A potential hydrocarbon charge increase being considered by an international standards body should create new business opportunities for manufacturers of plug ‘n’ play refrigeration systems.

The low-temperature freezers are aimed at the research sector.

The low-temperature freezers are aimed at the research sector.

France sees natural refrigerants as market-ready alternatives to HFCs, according an energy ministry official.

A new paper published by the UK Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) considers the future choice of refrigerant for small industrial refrigeration applications.

The European Commission has warned that the uptake of training in alternative refrigerants is too low to match the requirements of the F-gas phase down.

Nine national refrigeration associations met with a UN body in Belgrade, Serbia recently to tackle the HCFC phase out and hear about how to leapfrog HFCs by using natural refrigerants.