HVAC – REFRIGERANTS
Cool pollution solution
The transition to new refrigerants is being driven by environmental impact,
energy e ciency, safety and cost e ectiveness, as well as legislative
pressure. R32 refrigerant is set to become a huge part of the future in air
conditioning because it satisH es most of these drivers
Difl uoromethane, CH2F2,
By Ian Vallely
methylene fl uoride, carbon
fl uoride hydride – however
you label it, R32 refrigerant
has been around since the
early days of hydrofl uorocarbon (HFC)
refrigerant development.
However, it is about to come into its
own, particularly in the heating, ventilation
and air conditioning (HVAC) sector
which accounts for a high proportion of
refrigerant usage in fi xed applications,
throughout Europe and the UK. Why?
Because HFCs with a high global warming
potential (GWP) are being phased out and
low-GWP refrigerants will be needed for
the next-generation of air conditioning and
refrigeration equipment.
Manufacturers have responded by
introducing new products with lower GWP
refrigerants, including R32, which has a
GWP of 675 (compared with the current
industry ‘favourite’ refrigerant – R410A –
which has a GWP of 2,088). R32 also has a
high cooling capacity and high effi ciency.
All this, plus other signifi cant advantages
(see box, p21), makes R32 an increasingly
popular choice as the go-to refrigerant for
air conditioning manufacturers.
So, what’s not to like? Well, R32 does
exhibit some fl ammability, which meant
that in the early days of HFC blend
development, it was used as a component
of a refrigerant blend rather than as a pure
fl uid.
Martyn Cooper, commercial manager
at the Federation of Environmental Trade
Associations (FETA), explains: “By being
part of a blend, its fl ammability could be
suppressed by the other components to
ensure the blend was non-fl ammable. As
such, it is a principal component in the
R407 family of refrigerants and is 50%
of the blend in the main air conditioning
refrigerant – R410A.” (R410A is a 50/50
mixture of difl uoromethane (R32) and
pentafl uoroethane (R125)).
AN ALTERNATIVE
With the requirement to move to lower
GWP refrigerants under the F-Gas
Regulation, R32 was looked at again as a
pure fl uid. It was clear that an alternative
was needed to R410A and it was also clear
20 www.operationsengineer.org.uk May 2019
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