Hydrocarbon refrigerants

Daikin is set to introduce three new models running on lower GWP refrigerant R32 to its Sky Air range of small to medium commercial air conditioners.

The two companies launched the product at China Refrigeration 2017 (12-14 April, Shanghai).

At an international workshop on R290 air-conditioning this month, the Chinese Household Electrical Appliances Association and the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP/FECO) outlined their experiences with propane to an audience from across China, the Middle East and Vietnam.

A new paper from the compressor manufacturer looks at future refrigerant use in the light commercial sector.

Supermarket owners and operators across Europe are getting to grips with the implications of new EU Regulations on so-called F-Gases (No. 517/2014), which include common refrigerants used in store refrigeration and air conditioning systems. We offer an overview of the regulations and what supermarkets should be doing to safeguard their businesses, provided by leading compressor manufacturer Bitzer.

The German compressor maker is taking advantage of new efficiency requirements to market its propane units in the U.S.

R290 kills two birds with one stone for the OEM – DOE efficiency requirements and EPA delisting of HFCs.

The IEC is considering raising the 150g limit for flammable A3 refrigerants to 500g.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.