Refrigerant Types

Refrigerant Types and Environmental Concerns

Overview of Refrigerant Types - past and current

CFCs are ChloroFluoroCarbons - first generation refrigerants like R12 (early replacements for still earlier & harder-to-use CO₂ refrigerant) & R22 (1950s & later) widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners.

R12 was phased out in the US in 1994. R22 was phased out in 2010 and are no longer widely available.

• HCFCs = HydroChloroFluoroCarbon - refrigerants that were considered less damaging to the environment than CFCs. Less harmful to the ozone layer.
  
  HCFCs and CFCs both contain chlorine that was found to damage the earth's ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was an agreement to phase out both CFCs & HCFCs.
• HFCs = HydroFluoroCarbons - a 3rd generation of refrigerants less damaging to the ozone layer were intended to replace older refrigerants.
  
  Current HFCs were considered less damaging to the environment than CFCs and HCFCs.
  
  HFCs are made up of hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon. They are now recognized as a serious contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming.

In sum there were at least two classes of damage:

Holes in the ozone layer:

Chlorine-containing refrigerants that contributed to the ozone hole (consider getting skin cancer in Australia). These include CFCs and HCFCs.

Greenhouse gases:

Greenhouse gas formation that contributes to global warming. These include HCFCs and HFCs.

Environmental Alternatives

The EU has proposed more climate-friendly alternatives to HFCs. The article below provides a more-extensive list of alternatives to HFC type refrigerants.

• CLIMATE FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES to HFC REFRIGERANTS - EU [PDF] European Commission for Climate Action, (This department leads the European Commission's efforts to fight climate change at EU and international level.)
  European Commission, Charlemagne building, Rue de la Loi 170, 1040 Brussels Belgium (Visitors Centre), Web: https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en - retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/fluorinated-greenhouse-gases/climate-friendly-alternatives-hfcs_en).

In choosing refrigerants that reduce or eliminate the contribution of those products to global warming, alternatives include:

• Natural refrigerants
• HFCs with lower GWP, such as R32
• Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs)
• HFC-HFO blends

More about environmental concerns updates about refrigerants are given just below.

Refrigerant Type & Environmental Concerns Update

Illustration, excerpted from TRANSITIONING TO LOW-GWP ALTERNATIVES in Residential & Light Commercial Air Conditioning [PDF] (live link given just below), U.S. EPA, accounts for an estimated 36.7 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent released into the atmosphere by residential and light commercial A/C equipment in 2014.

At COMPARISON of REFRIGERANT GAS PROPERTIES we explained the two most widely-used measures of environmental impact of refrigerant gases, GWP and ODP, and that table makes clear that there are significant differences in both Global Warming Potential and Ozone Depletion Potential among refrigerants.

More about environmental concerns among refrigerants and the move towards refrigerants that offer less contribution to global warming and its costs is in the following articles:

• CLIMATE FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES to HFC REFRIGERANTS - EU [PDF] European Commission for Climate Action, (This department leads the European Commission's efforts to fight climate change at EU and international level.)
  European Commission, Charlemagne building, Rue de la Loi 170, 1040 Brussels Belgium (Visitors Centre), Web: https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en - retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/fluorinated-greenhouse-gases/climate-friendly-alternatives-hfcs_en).
• TRANSITIONING TO LOW-GWP ALTERNATIVES in Residential & Light Commercial Air Conditioning [PDF] (2015) US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), SNAP (Significant New Alternatives Policy), Contact: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/forms/contact-epa, Web: www.epa.gov, retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-09/documents/epa_hfc_residential_light_commercial_ac.pdf
  
• TRANSITIONING TO LOW-GWP ALTERNATIVES in Domestic Refrigeration [PDF] (2016) U.S. EPA (SNAP, retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/documents/transitioning_to_low-gwp_alternatives_in_domestic_refrigeration.pdf
• TRANSITIONING TO LOW-GWP ALTERNATIVES in Commercial Refrigeration [PDF] (2016) U.S. EPA, (SNAP), retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/documents/transitioning_to_low-gwp_alternatives_in_commercial_refrigeration.pdf
• TRANSITIONING TO LOW-GWP ALTERNATIVES in Passenger Vehicle Air Conditioners [PDF] (2015) U.S. EPA, (SNAP), retrieved 2021/12/22, original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-09/documents/epa_hfc_passenger_vehicle_ac.pdf
• K-J Thomas Mechanical, "HFC Refrigerants and Climate Change" [web article], K-J Thomas Mechanical, 6175 Trevarton Dr. Longmont, CO 80503 USA [Not Open to Walk-in Traffic] Tel: 303-435-8141 - retrieved 02/12/21 original source: https://www.kjtmechanical.com/webapp/p/574/hfc-refrigerants-and-climate-change
  Excerpts:
  
  ... the Paris Climate Accord, reached in December 2015 “gentleman’s agreement” [goal] is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 0 by 2050 and hold the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  ...
  President Obama pledged that the United States would reduce greenhouse gas emissions approximately 25 percent by 2025 using multiple means including ... reducing HFC refrigerants use ...
  
  In June 2017, President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement.
  
  However, as of July 2017, 350 [U.S.] mayors have formed the Climate Mayors and pledged to continue to follow or increase the Paris guidelines. In fact, many of them have committed to the goal of 100% clean energy.
  ...
  The Kigali Amendment on October 15, 2016 to the Montreal Protocol specifically addresses HFC refrigerants, and stipulates a timeline for limiting production and use. Rich developed countries in the European Union and the US will begin with a 10% reduction (from 2012 baseline) in the use and production of HFCs in 2019 down to by 85% by 2036. Developing countries have a more lenient timeline.
  
  Reduction will avoid up to .5 degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century.
  
  Note that the US has not ratified the Kigali treaty yet (and it’s fate would be uncertain under the new administration), but indications are that movement will continue in the direction of implementing the phasedown, whether legally required or not.