R290 will replace R410a into air-conditioning refrigerant

In recent years, environmental protection refrigerant alternatives that have attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign air-conditioning manufacturers have been recognized for the first time by the government.

Recently, Wen Wurui, director of the Environmental Protection Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Foreign Cooperation Center, disclosed for the first time in a public event that China is studying the use of hydrocarbon as a new type of environmentally-friendly refrigerant, gradually replacing the existing air-conditioning refrigerant on the market, and it will soon be available next year. The company will carry out corresponding transformation of the environmental protection air-conditioning production line.

Environmental protection refrigerants revealed

Wang Lei, deputy director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, confirmed that Wen Wurui’s willingness to disclose to the public alternatives to China’s environmental protection refrigerants shows that China’s previous research in this refrigerant, complete machine development, installation and maintenance, security risk assessment, etc. It has been fully launched and accumulated corresponding experience.

Wang Lei also emphasized that the application of hydrocarbon refrigerants and product development will only start next year, but when it will be fully replaced in the end, it will be gradually introduced gradually through enterprise pilot projects and product demonstrations. However, the current environmental protection refrigerant substitution work in China is under great pressure.

As a distributor of hydrocarbon refrigerants, Jiang Anfeng, sales director of Nanjing Jiabeng Refrigeration Co., Ltd. said in an interview, “Finally see the sky until the dawn of victory. In recent days, many dealers have called me to congratulate them.”

It is understood that the main task of China's implementation of the "Montreal Protocol" is to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs, ie HCFCs, and to stop the use of HCFCs by 2030. However, Wang Lei revealed that although there is still a lot of time to see from 2030, the output of air-conditioning in our country is huge, and the replacement task is very heavy.

Wang Lei revealed that starting from 2010, China will implement the Montreal Protocol's task of accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs. By 2013, the production and use of HCFC will be frozen at the average level of 2009 and 2010, and it will be eliminated by 2015. % usage.

R290 will replace R410a

According to the reporter of the Refrigeration Express, at present, China's home air conditioners use the most refrigerant R22, that is HCFC-22.2010 In the cold year, the total output of domestic air conditioners in China has exceeded 80 million units, and continues to maintain its global leading position. Although in recent years, some air-conditioning companies are exporting air-conditioners to European and American markets, R410a replaces R22 with refrigerants. At the same time, last year, Midea, Haier, Oaks and other companies also adopted R410a refrigerants in the promotion of inverter air conditioners.

However, compared to R22 refrigerant, although R410a has zero damage to the ozone layer, its greenhouse gas effect even partially exceeds R22. Therefore, R410a is not the ultimate environmental refrigerant solution for the Chinese air-conditioning industry. Wang Lei also believes that "R410a is only a transitional substitute."

Compared with the above two products, Wen Wurui believes that hydrocarbon refrigerants do not damage the ozone layer, have no greenhouse effect, and are completely environmentally friendly. Jiang Anfeng also revealed that as early as many years ago, TCL and Delong's mobile air-conditioning joint venture had already adopted R290 as a refrigerant. However, these products are mainly exported to the European Union.

Experts in the large air-conditioning refrigeration market pointed out that since the R290 can be easily extracted from oil and natural gas, R410a refrigerant manufacturers headed by DuPont, Honeywell, and Daikin will be subject to huge demand over the years with the promotion and application of R290 refrigerant. Impact. Previously, they will be broken through profitable models that use patented technology to generate lucrative profits. R290's safety paradox However, the R290's "flammable and explosive" nature is enough to make the market and consumers "talk about the tiger." In this regard, Professor Ma Yitai, director of the Thermal Research Institute of Tianjin University, pointed out that “hydrocarbons are just one solution, and it is suitable for systems with small filling capacity. For example, isobutane is very successful for refrigerators. Propane is Air-conditioning, filling capacity must be carefully optimized, and it needs to be gradually improved in terms of installation, maintenance, after-sales, and fire."

Jiang Anfeng also frankly stated that since the company started to promote R290 refrigerant in 2006, its promotion and application in the domestic market has been in a grey area. Air-conditioning manufacturers will not be able to use flammable and explosive products because they are concerned. Ultimately, the company can only cooperate with some installation service companies in the society and use energy-saving and environmental protection as a selling point to attract enterprises and institutions to retrofit old air conditioners with refrigerants.

It is understood that, GB9237-2001 cooling and heating machinery and refrigeration system safety requirements, R290 as a flammable refrigerant is clearly prohibited for home air conditioning. Jiang Anfeng also disclosed that “he had previously passed through several national-level air-conditioning testing agencies. They mean that the national standard lags behind the development speed of the product technology. The application of the R290 to air-conditioning is only 'closed eyes'. One eye 'attitude.' Professor Ma Yitai believes that propane has good thermal performance, but the combustion explosion is also very dangerous, alternative work should be gradually advanced, can not be across the board. The reporter was informed that prior to this, the R600a and R290 used in the refrigerator belonged to the natural working medium, and there were also flammable and explosive problems. Since the amount of refrigerator filling was small, the hidden dangers were eliminated, but the power of air conditioners was generally large. How to technically Solving this problem still requires the exploration of enterprises.