So, why natural refrigerants?
This is a huge subject (which we have a full presentation for) and so we will just cover briefly here.
The Story of Synthetic Refrigerants
All of the refrigerants conventionally used in heat pumps are bad for the environment and/or are bad for human health.
Having phased out CFC’s like R22 for having high ozone depleting potential, the synthetic refrigerants industry then introduced HFC refrigerants like R410a.
After using HFC’s for a period of time, it was then discovered that they have high global warming potential. In recent years the synthetic industry have introduced HFO refrigerants to the market which are much lower in GWP than HFC’s.
It has since been discovered that HFO’s break down into triphlorcetric acid in the atmosphere, also like most HFC’s, they contain PFAS (forever chemicals). Both TFA and PFAS chemicals are said to be found in our lakes, rivers and assuch our drinking water.
Bans and Phase Downs
There is already legislation in place, to phase out the highest GWP HFC’s and road maps to ban many lower GWP HFC’s in various types of equipment with the intent of a complete phase out by 2050.
Many European governments are also lobbying to get PFAS chemicals banned due to their belief that their use causes disease in humans.
There are many consultations happening around both subjects, there is talk about accelerated FGAS bans and bans of PFAS.
This uncertainty means that systems bought today could be subject to constraints and in worst case could become stranded assets.
Ethics and Common Sense
If you forget the commercial implications of buying equipment today that could be banned in a few years, we should be considering the ethics around the choice of refrigerant.
What we are sure of is that these refrigerants are not good for the environment and/or for human health.
Heat pumps with refrigerants that are not harmful to human health are available and so why would we not move to them now?
A Closer Look At The Options
The chart below shows most of the refrigerants used in heat pumps available on the market today.
At the top (in the red box), we have the refrigerants which we really should not be using, they all have GWPs in the thousands, have PFAS chemicals in them and all but R410a break down into trifleurocetric acidin the atmosphere – unfortunately we are still seeing heat pumps with these refrigerants in them specified a lot!
Highlighted in orange is R32 – this is a HFC but has a considerably lower GWP of 675, it has no PFAS chemicals and does not break down into TFA.
The next set of refrigerants are highlighted in purple, these are HFO’s, they are low GWP but have PFAS chemicals in and break down into TFA.
The next set, highlighted in blue - R454b, R454c and R513a are all blends of HFC and HFO refrigerants, R454b and R454c are both mixtures of R32 (HFC) and R1234yf (HFO), the only difference between R454b and R454c is the percentage of the mixture, R454b has about 30% R1234yf in it and R454c has about 20% R1234yf. R513a is 44% R134a (High GWP HFC) and 56% R1234yf (HFO) These refrigerants are relatively low GWP, but have the issues that come with HFO’s having PFAS chemicals in them and breaking down into TFA.
Choose Natural Refrigerants
Our first suggestion will always be to use equipment which utilises R744, R290 or R600a, these refrigerants (highlighted in green), occur naturally in the environment, they contain no PFAS chemicals and do not break down into TFA in the environment.
Natural refrigerants are completly future proof - we can provide tried and tested products which use natural refrigerants such as R290 or C02 with capacities ranging from 20 – 1000kW and so all sizes of systems can be served by natural refrigerants.
Using natural refrigerants, does not only protect you from future changes in legislation, it is the ethical choice, continuing specifying equipment with synthetic refrigerants is both un-logical and unethical.
