Hydrocarbon refrigerants

Retailers are beginning to offer hydrocarbon-cooled pick-up stations for food purchased online.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has decided that US industry is being materially injured by cheap imports of refrigerant R134a from China.

Several manufacturers at German trade show ISH displayed efficient systems using the natural refrigerant propane (R290).

Austrian company AHT already has over one million propane-based food and beverage retail cabinets in operation worldwide.

Swiss OEM’s R290 and R600a refrigerators and freezers meet new ENERGY Star 4.0 efficiency standard.

Multinational beverage giants like Unilever, Pepsi and the Coca-Cola Company are driving Ugur to supply propane cabinets throughout the world.

But the company is finding slow uptake in the U.S. as customers don’t see a sufficient number of trained propane technicians.

Italian water vending machine and water cooler manufacturer Blupura expects to grow by 43% in 2017 – largely thanks to its commitment to future-proof natural refrigerants.

The global family-run business presented new hydrocarbon stand-alone cabinets aimed at the commercial market.

More must be done to lift barriers to natural refrigerant uptake such as restrictive safety standards, the EIA’s Clare Perry told visitors to the EuroShop tradeshow yesterday.

Since February 27 till March 2, 2017, a meeting of representatives of refrigeration associations of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine as well as working groups from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan took place in Moscow. It resulted in establishing the Interstate technical committee which will help specialists in refrigeration solve their common problems.

Since February 27 till March 2, 2017, a meeting of representatives of refrigeration associations of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine as well as working groups from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan took place in Moscow. It resulted in establishing the Interstate technical committee which will help specialists in refrigeration solve their common problems.

New products for CO2, ammonia and propane refrigeration systems are being launched at leading tradeshow ‘Climatización & Refrigeración 2017’ in Spanish capital Madrid this week.

Compressor manufacturer SECOP argues that its improved range of compressors utilising variable speed technology can reduce energy costs in light commercial and household applications.

The study finds that the market has slowly recovered from past years of lackluster performance. In 2016, the China market for blowing agent is valued at RMB 6.3 Bn and around 400,000 tons of blowing agents are sold. The domestic market is expected to maintain stable growth rates through to 2021. Because of the Montreal Protocol, China will be reducing its HCFC production and consumption to 35% of baseline level in 2020. This will mean that many downstream users in the building materials market especially those making PU and XPS foams will have to switch to other blowing agents by then. This change is by no means a small one, as HCFC is still the second largest segment in 2016. With the phase out of HCFC, there will be more users switching to hydrocarbon (HC), HFC and HFO blowing agents. Through a comprehensive study of the market, this report will identify the possible opportunities available for existing and potential players looking to capitalize on this development.

David Bernet, a sales area manager at Huayi Compressor Barcelona, says the light commercial refrigeration sector in Latin America has shifted 60% of its production to propane.

As the global HFC phase-down gathers pace, participants in the first-ever ATMOsphere Japan conference – held yesterday at the Shin-Marunouchi Building Conference Square in Tokyo – heard how policy changes and technology developments are creating new opportunities for natural refrigerants in Japan.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to adopt the new lower GWP refrigerant R32 in all 274 models of a new high efficiency air conditioning range to be released in Japan this May.

By using natural refrigerants and an increase in energy efficiency, the global warming impact of data-centre cooling systems can be reduced to ‘virtually zero’, an Ecofys report found.

Canada-based Minus Forty Technologies Corp. is staying ahead of the regulatory curve by converting its entire product line to propane.