USA: Honeywell has announced it will be selling Solstice 456A, a new lower GWP drop-in replacement for R134a in car air conditioning systems.

A new international standard was approved last week which allows flammable A3 refrigerants such as propane (R290) in domestic air conditioners, heat pumps and dehumidifiers.
After 18 months of revisions the standard was finally approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on 29 April, 2022.

Europe’s leading manufactures of natural-refrigerant-based systems are calling for greater ambition in the European Commission’s (EC) recently proposed revisions for the EU F-gas Regulation, suggesting stricter GWP limits, product bans and compensation for environmental damage.

As the world gets hotter, staying cool becomes more important. Even here on the north coast air-conditioners are becoming more common. AC, refrigerators, and other cooling equipment use a refrigerant gas called hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that traps thousands of times more heat than CO2. California is currently working on a bill to address the deadly loop of proliferating HFCs leading to higher temperatures, which lead to more HFCs.

R-32, a single component refrigerant, has benefits that distinguish it from blended refrigerants. Single component refrigerants provide benefits that include no-compositional change, the ability to be charged in either liquid/gas phase, no temperature glide, and they are easier to reuse and reclaim.
So why is this all important?

SPAIN: Researchers have identified a number of refrigerant mixtures which could provide a more efficient alternative to pure hydrocarbons in small refrigeration systems.
Isobutane (R600a) has replaced R134a as the dominant refrigerant in domestic fridge/freezers, while propane (R290) has been widely adopted as the preferred environmental option for stand-alone commercial refrigeration appliances. This is particularly so in Europe where the F-gas regulations (517/2014) ban the use of refrigerants with a GWP higher than 150 in small capacity refrigeration systems.

Nidec global appliance R&D manage, Jozef Sedliak, explains why hydrocarbons are the best option to create an environmentally sustainable refrigeration industry.
When it comes to dealing with the world’s carbon (CO2) emissions and their impact on global warming the refrigeration industry has an important role to play.

EUROPE: Prices of higher GWP refrigerants rose significantly in 2021, with R134a, in particular, up by 15% on average across the supply chain.

CHINA: Hermetic reciprocating compressors running on hydrocarbon refrigerants now account for around 80% of sales in China’s home market, with R134a units being mainly produced for export.
According to the latest report by UK market consultants, BSRIA, the total sales volume of Chinese hermetic reciprocating compressors reached about 200 million units in 2020, rising by 14.5%. The domestic market grew 15.6% to 130 million units with the export market increasing by about 12.4% to 71 million units.

BELGIUM: Daikin is the latest air conditioning and heat pump manufacturer to suspend business in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement the Japanese manufacturer announced: “Daikin’s entities in Europe have suspended business in Russia in consideration of the current situation of economic, logistics and others.”