The Global Extension of R290 Application

Under the objective requirements of responding to the challenge of global climate change, the voice of hydrocarbon refrigerants in the international community is becoming higher and higher. In particular, the completion of the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol has allowed the rapid development of hydrocarbon refrigerants. 

On April 10-11, an international seminar on the design, manufacturing and installation of R290 refrigerant in the room air conditioner industry was held in Ningbo. Mark W. Roberts, senior lawyer and international policy consultant of the Independent Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), attended the meeting When introducing the application situation and trend of hydrocarbon refrigerants in the commercial refrigeration field in the United States, it was stated that in the future, hydrocarbon refrigerants will develop rapidly in China, especially in the room air conditioner industry and light commercial refrigeration fields.　　

In order to prevent global warming, countries around the world are working to reduce high greenhouse effect potential (GWP) gases. The Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol reached in October last year clarified the timetable for countries around the world to reduce the super greenhouse gas HFCs. Developed countries should reduce the consumption and production of HFCs from 2019, and reduce the use of HFCs to within 15% of their baseline value after 2036, while developing countries should freeze the consumption and production of HFCs from 2024. Production will be reduced from 2029, and the use of HFCs will be reduced to within 20% of its baseline value after 2045.　　 

The completion of the Kigali Amendment objectively created an opportunity for the development of low-carbon and environmentally friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants. A large number of studies have shown that hydrocarbon refrigerants R290 and R600a have similar or slightly higher critical temperatures with HCFC refrigerant R22. These two refrigerants have better performance than HFC and HFC mixtures in high temperature environments. COP/energy efficiency performance is the best."Hydrocarbons are proven to be safe and efficient refrigerants in many small and medium-sized household and light commercial equipment, especially in free-standing commercial refrigerators and freezers, vending machines, water coolers, ice machines, and room air conditioners. "Roberts said.　　

In the United States, hydrocarbon refrigerants have been widely used. Whole Foods, a health food supermarket in Santa Clara, California, uses the R290/CO₂ commercial system, which uses R290 refrigerant to condense carbon dioxide to achieve the cooling effect. The use of hydrocarbon refrigerants enables the system to eliminate all direct greenhouse gas emissions. Avoided the emission of more than 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.In 2013, the American supermarket chain HEB opened a large food supermarket in Austin, Texas. 

The supermarket adopted the R290 refrigeration system designed by Hussmann. The design service life of the system is as high as 15-20 years. Due to the use of R290 refrigeration The system will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,556 metric tons equivalent. The system's first-year project operation documents show that the energy efficiency of the system is 79% higher than that of the system using traditional refrigerants.Target, a large-scale general supermarket with more than 1,800 chain stores in the United States, announced that it will use R290 as a refrigerant in all new free-standing refrigerators. Starting from January 2016, all Target stores have free-standing refrigerators with a power of 2200 BTU/hour. 

HFC materials will not be used as refrigerants. In the next 6-8 months, Target's new stores will all use R290 as the refrigerant for its free-standing refrigerators.In the past two years, the American refrigerator/freezer manufacturer True has converted about 80% of its food service and food retail refrigerators/freezers from HFCs to R290 refrigerant. The average energy efficiency of its R290 products is higher than the previous HFC refrigeration. The product of the agent is 15% to 25% higher.Roberts said that the fact that R290 is combustible and widely used as a fuel has caused people to worry about the safety of this substance as a refrigerant. However, a study published in the International Journal of Refrigeration in 2013 showed that the chance of ignition of R290 ice cream freezer is less than 0.001%.

 Another study showed that the safety, reliability and performance of ice cream refrigerators using R290 refrigerant have not changed compared with traditional equipment. Global consumers have used more than 1.5 billion refrigerators and freezers using hydrocarbon refrigerants. Hydrocarbon refrigerants have been used in Europe for more than 20 years, but the risk of explosion has not increased.　　

In fact, the relevant US policies and regulations are gradually loosening, allowing the hydrocarbon refrigerant R290 to be used in a wider range of fields. The U.S. Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) is a new substitute passed under Regulation 19, allowing R290 to be used in household refrigerators, freezers, vending machines and room air conditioners. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also allows R290 to be used in commercial ice making Machine, chiller and low temperature system. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) also began to consider increasing the charging limit of hydrocarbon refrigerants in household refrigeration equipment and stand-alone air conditioners.　　 

Not only in the United States, but also in the global trend of hydrocarbon refrigerants. Roberts believes that in the next 15 years, hydrocarbon refrigerants will develop rapidly in China, especially in the room air conditioner industry and light commercial refrigeration. It is estimated that by 2020, the proportion of hydrocarbon refrigerants in China's room air conditioner industry is expected to reach 10%, this proportion can reach up to 50% by 2030.