INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION
The age of A2L refrigerants
The recent ban on the use of high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants is still ringing in our ears – and this gives those operating industrial refrigeration equipment a headache when looking at the service of existing equipment using a refrigerant with GWP >2500 such as the commonplace R404A. Mark Hughes of Chemours looks at how A2L refrigerants impacts on industrial refrigeration.
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Industrial’ refrigeration (rather than ‘commercial’), refers to all refrigeration activities outside of retail and the food service sector. This means any activity within the supply chain, which in food is typically from the farm to the supermarket. This includes the preparation and processing of food, beverage and dairy goods, the storage of those goods, as well as the transportation of this produce through the supply chain to the supermarket shelves or the food service outlet. But it’s not just about the Food Chain.
Industrial refrigeration includes other industry sectors, for example the pharmaceuticals industry needs to keep manufactured drugs and medicines to strict low temperature levels, and importantly, vaccines and biological samples require cold storage or they will rapidly deteriorate..
All the above activities are critical and, as we are well aware, have been pushed to the limit in recent times with the emergence and measures to deal with Covid-19. Any product manufactured or processed that requires cold storage or requires its temperature to be reduced, is now affected by the recent F-Gas bans and the phasing down of HFCs. It is possible to service equipment containing R404A with reclaimed refrigerant or by retrofit to a mid-range GWP product like
26 May 2020
R449A which will extend the life of existing equipment for a number of years, but this is only an interim measure and eventually this equipment will need to be replaced with new. New industrial equipment installations must
now use a refrigerant with a GWP <2500 and in fact, with the upcoming cut in F-Gas quota in 2021, on the path to an 80% reduction by 2030, the actual GWP required to ensure future sustainability needs to be around 400 or less. This is shown in the graph below.
These changes will therefore impact equipment being installed today. The good news is that there are now more options to choose from when looking for a system that is efficient, low cost, simple to operate and safe to use.
Who is impacted? To maintain a sustainable and uninterrupted supply chain, plant engineers, facilities and maintenance managers within end user
Phase-down graph in terms of average GWP required to meet F-Gas Quota reductions.
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