Transcript Slide 1

R744 & HC use in Australasia
Green Cooling Association Inc
Overview
1. Introductory remarks

Green Cooling Assn/Green Cooling Council
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The Ideological Divide - containment vs replacement?
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CPRS outline
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What does “environmentally friendly” mean?
2. Sectoral Overview
 Domestic Refrigeration
 Industrial Refrigeration
 Small Commercial Refrigeration
 Large Commercial Refrigeration
 Heatpumps
 Domestic Air Conditioning
 Large Commercial Air Conditioning
 Small Commercial Air Conditioning
 Mobile Air Conditioning
3. Regional Highlights
 Experience with HCs and R744 in SE Asia
Green Cooling Association Inc
 Formed in early 2009 following the collapse of the Green Cooling
Council Pty Ltd, an organisation established in 2003 to promote the
interests of the natural refrigerants industry in Australia and with
focus on improving energy efficiency as part of delivering climate
friendly refrigerant solutions
 Comprised of around 60 individuals with an interest in NH3,CO2 and
HCs, most of whom work in companies in the RAC industry in
Australia, with a growing international membership
 Focused on political and information barriers as much as promoting
technical solutions, with an active interest in Montreal Protocol and
international climate negotiations
The Ideological Divide
- containment vs replacement?
 Fluorocarbon proponents in Australia working very
hard to narrow the debate on refrigerant choice to
arguments about measures to improve containment of
fluorocarbons
 Current licensing, accreditation and awareness efforts
are represented as being a sufficient response
 Significant effort is expended on obtaining
‘independent expert’ advice to downplay the potential
of natural refrigerants to replace fluorocarbons
 Fortunately, Government is not listening…
Refrigerants Australia Projection
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
(CPRS) – Oz ETS outline
 Wide coverage – HFCs included, assumes they will
leak, can generate emissions credits if gas is recovered
and destroyed
 Timing – was to be July 2010, now delayed until 2011,
assuming legislation passes Senate
 Broad coverage HFCs included, complementary
legislative and regulatory changes to cover HCFCs
 Major changes to refrigerant recovery and destruction
being developed
CPRS outline - continued
 Statistics Norway study by Katherine Loe Hansen of key
importance in influencing Government position
 Scheme will put a high cost on imports of high GWP
refrigerant using an ‘upstream’ approach – large entities
will have to acquire emissions permits, smaller importers
will be included through higher import levies to achieve
same price as paid by large importers
 Fluorolobby fighting tooth and nail to win exemption from
coverage, very unlikely Govt will concede to their demands
 Already having a large impact on selection of new systems,
this is expected to become much greater when scheme
takes effect
Importance of defending the claim to be
“environmentally friendly”
 Vital for naturals to defend competitive advantages
 Highly deceptive claims becoming increasingly
frequent around the world
 Effective regulatory action taken in Australia in 2003
Sectoral Overview
Domestic Refrigeration
 Industrial Refrigeration
 Small Commercial Refrigeration
 Large Commercial Refrigeration
 Heatpumps
 Domestic Air Conditioning
 Large Commercial Air Conditioning
 Small Commercial Air Conditioning
 Mobile Air Conditioning
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PREPARED BY THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF REFRIGERATION,
AIR CONDITIONING AND HEATING - 2006
with funding from the Department of Environment and Water Resources
http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/ozone/publications/pubs/refrigera
nts-guide.pdf
About the case studies
Much of the refrigeration and air conditioning equipment
in Australia uses fluorocarbon refrigerants to facilitate the
heat transfer process. Fluorocarbon refrigerants are
synthetic chemicals which usually have a high global
warming potential, and some still have the potential to
cause damage to the ozone layer as well if released to
the atmosphere.
Alternatives to these chemicals exist that can help to
mitigate some of the environmental risks. Often referred
to as 'natural' refrigerants because the substances also
occur in nature, these alternatives include ammonia,
carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons.
These substances have been used as refrigerants for
many years, however, they are now finding their way into
applications where previously fluorocarbons were the
preferred option.
This document has been put together to provide industry
decision makers with more information on the potential of
'natural' refrigerants. It includes an overview of each of
the alternatives, case studies on how they've been put to
use in Australia, and pointers to some sources of further
information.
The case studies are written in plain English, and attempt
to give a realistic picture of how alternatives to
fluorocarbon refrigerants were used in each case – the
advantages they provided, the challenges that needed to
be overcome, and the drivers behind each project.
Domestic Refrigeration
 Imported brands including Vestfrost, Miele, Liebherr
and Bosch are long established, but occupy niche
positions in high-end and off-grid markets
 Electrolux – own the only domestic fridge
manufacturing facility remaining in Australia, and
have converted their own brand to Hychill Minus30
(R600a)
 Electrolux plans to introduce HC to their many other
brands in near future
 Fisher and Paykel – have yet to announce a HC range
Industrial Refrigeration
Natural refrigerants have an established history and are now in common use
 First CO2 system built in Bundaberg, Qld in 2002, started to gain acceptance
between 5-8 years ago, but in last 3-4 years has become the accepted best choice
 Single stage and 2 stage NH3
 Cascade CO2/NH3 – low temp and medium temp applications
 NH3 (small charge in plant room) and secondary (glycol) systems
 Organic brines – CO2 – Low Temp
 Spiral, Inline, Blast and Plate Freezers using CO2 and NH3
 Companies delivering custom built systems include Grasso, Scantec, RefEng
RealCold, TriTech, Gordon Bros, Johnson Controls, eCO2 Technologies
 Examples –Major supermarket chains operating 8 large distribution centres
using NH3 glycol systems, fruit storage, and food processing facilities
 Order has just been placed for Australia’s first transcritical CO2 large food
processing facility, in QLD, for a desert and chocolate producer
Industrial Refrigeration
Energy and Cost Comparison of NH3 and HFC
systems for large food processing facility
Small Commercial Refrigeration
 Unilever has distributed 100,000 hydrocarbon ice
cream chest freezers since 2007
 Other players in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods
sector have not yet embraced the shift to CO2 or HCs,
and have objected to the Emissions Trading Scheme
 Some manufacturers perceive industry resistance to
hydrocarbons, and have yet to develop HC cabinets
 There is experience with HCs in on farm milk vats, but
in spite of excellent results, use has been limited
Large Commercial Refrigeration
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Bitzer - dominant compressor supplier
 Estimate there are over 60 supermarkets using CO2 in Australia & NZ
New Zealand
 At least 3 systems in the North Island
 Foodstuffs in the South Island built first in Nov 2006, and has recently opened
their sixth at Lincoln on the outskirts of Christchurch
 Another being opened in Timaru in 2 months time, and a further 2 are
planned for the first half of next year
Australia
 Very strong growth is being experienced
 There are an estimated 50 stores in operation
 Orders for new systems are coming in fast
 Woolworths are pursuing CO2 systems aggressively
 Coles direction have recently undergone a major reorganisation, but appear to
remain committed to pursuing CO2
Large Commercial Refrigeration
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Debate within the industry continues on the optimal system designs
for the wide range of Australian/NZ conditions, and there is a steep
learning curve, technical discussions at GL2010 should prove highly
instructive.
 Higher up front capital costs are well understood, but energy and
refrigerant savings are such that even in the absence of the
Australian ETS, payback periods are sufficiently short for the
decision to adopt CO2 to be a ‘no brainer’.
 ECO2 technologies – offering Enex transcritical systems designed
for use in hot climates, have faced reluctance but expect to have
orders placed soon.
 Australian contractors Frigrite helped
install first CO2 cascade system in
Thailand at Tesco Salaya in 2007
Awards for CO2 Supermarkets
Premier’s Sustainability Award 2007
Frigrite –Victoria
Inaugural Coolworld Awards 2008
“Refrigeration Installation of the Year”
Green Cooing Council Angle Vale Transcritical CO2
Heatpumps
 Small heatpumps suitable for domestic applications
are soon to be available from Sanyo in Australia
 Medium sized heatpumps (10-60 kW) are available
from eCO2 Technologies in partnership with Enex
 Large heatpumps (130 kW) are being actively
marketed by Mayekawa Australia
 Large custom built 2 stage heatpump systems are
available from companies including Grasso,
Mayekawa/Mycom and Sabroe
Heatpumps
Enex/eCO2
Mayekawa
Domestic Air Conditioning
 Benson Air Conditioning, from Perth,
WA, has a wide range of domestic to
small commercial systems being
marketed nationwide using HyChill
“Minus??” R290
Fujin (Recom Engineering, WA) is
actively developing a range of R290
splits and combined hot water units,
expected to be available soon
Active R&D by another company is
expected to deliver an innovative super
efficient range to market in ≈ 6 months
Small Commercial Air Conditioning
 A problematic sector for naturals
 Small ammonia chillers to pump cold water
have been used in a few instances, but this
has potential to become a more common
approach
 Limited examples of retrofit with HCs
believed to exist
 Active R&D in applying HCs is ongoing
Large Commercial Air Conditioning
 Ammonia Chillers using chilled water are well proven
 Compact systems with minimum charge, are available
in a range of sizes
 Demonstrated to provide highly attractive Energy
Efficiency and short pay back period on capital outlay
 Grasso, Johnson Controls and Bitzer are main
equipment suppliers and are actively marketing these
solutions to building owners, managers and designers
Mobile Air Conditioning
Hydrocarbon Refrigerants in Motor Vehicle AC Systems
– The Australian Story
 First batch of Australian made R12/R134a replacement of 50kg produced
by LPG Management Technology for Esanty Refrigerants in 1990.
 Since that date over 200 tonnes of HC has been sold in Australia to the
MAC re-gas market.
 HyChill is one of 3 suppliers to the market in Australia, along with
Technochem and ERG – so the total is larger than this number.
 As 200 tonnes of HC replaces 600 tonnes of R134a, this has avoided over
800,000,000 Kg of CO2 emissions.
 Current estimate of annual sales is around 30-35 tonnes.
Australian use of HCs in MVACS (cont.)
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At least one small scale vehicle manufacturer uses HyChill refrigerants in their
production. Another manufacturer is seriously considering the issue because
of the excellent results being achieved by one of their distributors who
converts the systems to HC prior to delivery.
 A number of Original Equipment Manufacturer distributors are removing
R134a and replacing it with HC prior to delivery of new vehicles.
 A number of mining operators have a policy that HFC’s and HCFC’s are
prohibited from their site in all vehicles and all MUST be changed to HC
before being brought into service. Why?
Because of the environmental impact of the gas and the oil
 Improved performance in extreme conditions (there are many examples of R134a
approaching critical temperature leading to equipment failure in high ambient
temperature environments - a significant cost issue!)
 because their (mandatory) risk assessments show there is no significant additional
safety risk, they are of the view that HC and mineral oil are a lower overall risk than
HFC and PAG oil.
 Mining companies have the expertise in house to do their own risk assessments !
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Australian use of HCs in MVACS
– the evidence of this sidelined solution?
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An October 2008 report* prepared for the Australian Department of
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts revealed that 5.5% of refrigerant
recovered from the MVAC sector was HC. Given that the shops that use HC’s
regularly know that there is no need to recover HC’s, it seems clear that the actual
percentage of vehicles on the road using HC’s is somewhat higher than this.
Collated industry data indicates that approximately 10% to 15% of vehicles on the
road use HC’s.
Sales are greatest in rural servicing centres, reflecting use in agricultural
equipment.
Many TAFE (Technical and Further Education) colleges in Australia now teach
the safe uses of HC’s in MAC’s as part of their normal training for
tradesmen/apprentices.
Clearly, there is a pressing need for a further independent assessment of the
extent of use of HCs in Australia, and around the world, to demonstrate that HCs
are a viable option for more widespread use.
*Energy Strategies, “ODS and SGGs in Australia - A study of end uses, emissions and opportunities for reclamation”, October 2008,
for the Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA)
Australian use of HCs in MVACS
– Safety concerns?
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The only documented incidents in Australia are simply the result of failure to comply with
normal workshop safety practices.
The highlighting of these incidents by the fluorolobby shows how disingenuous their
concerns about safety really are, as there are also documented reports of workshop incidents
with MVAC’s using HFC’s where normal workshop safety practices were not followed.
The paper titled “Usage and risk of hydrocarbon refrigerants in motor cars for Australia and
the United States” published in the International Journal of Refrigeration 27(2004) 339–345 is
a peer reviewed document that shows the risk associated with the use of HC’s in MVAC’s has
been overstated by those who have previously done risk assessments.
Those who continue to call for further analysis and studies studiously ignore this paper and
all the other real world evidence when they continue to call for further risk assessments.
Organizations such as the USEPA are simply acting as the “pawns” of the FC lobby in
continuing their objections to HC’s in MVAC’s.
The majority of risk assessments that this paper thoroughly refutes were commissioned by
fluorolobby vested interests for the explicit purpose of conducting negative marketing
campaigns, and to influence OEM’s and regulators, and not as objective attempts to assess
the suitability of HC’s as refrigerants in MVAC’s.
Australian HC Refrigerant Suppliers
Regional Highlights
Experience with HCs in SE Asia
 Increasingly significant level of retrofitting of existing
systems with hydrocarbon is taking place in many countries,
including Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore
 Companies supplying include Chatcooling, RedTek
Thailand, Coolman Group, Nat Energy Singapore, Hychill
Fueltreat Malaysia, Pertamina and Energy Resources Group
 Wide range of systems involved, impressive energy efficiency
gains being delivered and driving wider use

APL Asia Co., Ltd. is promoting the use of Environmentally Friendly, Energy
Efficient REDTEK Hydrocarbon Refrigerant from USA in an attempt to reduce
the use of CFC, HFC and HCFC refrigerant gases, which are causing
irreparable damage to the environment.
 Our company is based in Thailand and distributes REDTEK refrigerant
throughout Asia, to companies with a similar philosophy to ours. Our main
activities are based in Thailand and involve the replacement of mainly R22
with REDTEK 22a hydrocarbon refrigerant, to companies who want to 1) use
environmentally friendly products to reduce damage to our environment and
2) reduce running costs by reducing the use of electricity, which results in a
reduction in the quantity of electricity that needs generating and therefore
again helps reduce gas emissions into the environment.
 As HC gas is combustible, under certain conditions, we survey our customer
facilities to ensure we will not causing an unsafe condition. We follow the
ACRIB guidelines mainly for volume of refrigerant in a particular area, if
refrigerant was released from an A/C system. We will not install if we have any
doubts concerning safety.
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All A/C systems converted are labeled to indicate the presence of hydrocarbon
refrigerant. We also provide training to our customer’s staff on the safe use and
charging procedure for hydrocarbon refrigerant. The MSDS is supplied to
every customer, approval is usually obtained from their head office and we do
not have many problems in convincing customers to change to an
environmentally acceptable alternative, especially when they witness the
significant energy saving they can obtain.
The advantage with Hydrocarbon Refrigerant is that it is not a “retrofit”
product, it is a drop in replacement with no modification or replacement of
components, lubricating oil etc. required.
All refrigerant removed from air conditioning systems is recovered, cleaned,
dried and reused as there is not a refrigerant destruction facility in Thailand.
Our intention is to reduce the quantity of new refrigerant manufactured.
Our customers, for refrigerant replacement, are mainly factories where they
have dedicated staff for maintenance of air conditioning systems and we can
be confident on safety issues.
Following are some examples of HC replacement projects showing the saving
in power we achieve, these results are for split type, chillers (reciprocating and
screw compressors), package units, at the moment we are converting several
factories each month and we see our workload increasing as the world says
goodbye to harmful chemical refrigerants :
Hydrocarbon retrofits by Redtek Thailand
NAT ENERGY RESOURCES PRIVATE LIMITED
 NAT ENERGY RESOURCES PRIVATE LIMITED was
incorporated in Singapore in February 2005. Our
Company was set up primarily to propagate the
application of Hydrocarbon Technology onto all
buildings and automobiles with air-conditioning
systems.
 Our aim is to reduce energy costs for all our customers
and at the same time improve the environment by
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. As an ecofriendly
Company, we are duty-bound to replace the high GWP
(Global Warming Potential) causing HFC refrigerants
with the almost zero GWP hydrocarbon refrigerant.
Coolman Group HC Marketing
New HC production facility
in development stage - Thailand
Final Government
approvals imminent
Seeking Investment
Capital
Further information
available to interested
parties
http://www.ceerd.net
Where will we be in another 15 years..?
Greenpeace
Cartoon – 1994
"The present situation, when CFCs
and in a little longer perspective the
HCFCs are being banned by
international agreement, it does
not seem very logical to try to
replace them by another family of
related halocarbons, the HFCs,
equally foreign to nature. In any
case it must obviously be much
preferable to use natural
compounds, which are already
circulating in quantity in the
biosphere and are known to be
harmless." *
-Professor Gustav Lorentzen
(Norway, 1994)
2009
It’s up to every one of us!
Thanks for your attention…
(PS -See you at the Gustav Lorentzen 2010
Conference in Sydney?)
www.greencooling.org
For Further Information:
Australian Companies
Benson Air Conditioning (HC split systems)
http://www.bensonairconditioning.com.au/
Bitzer (Equipment manufacturer)
http://www.bitzer.com.au
CA Group Services (Ammonia systems)
http://cagroupservices.com.au/
Coolquip (West Australia, refrigeration services)
http://www.coolquip.com.au
eCO2 Technologies (CO2 & HC system engineers and
designers) http://www.eco2technologies.com.au
Electrolux Australia (HC domestic fridge
manufacturer) http://www.electrolux.com.au
Energy Resources Group (HC refrigerant distributor
and services) http://www.erg1000.com
Frigrite (Refrigeration contractors & engineers)
http://www.frigrite.com.au
GEA Refrigeration Components
http://www.gearefrigeration.com
Greenfreeze (HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.greenfreeze.com.au/
Hychill Refrigerants (HC refrigerant manufacturer)
http://www.hychill.com.au/
Scantec Refrigeration(Ammonia & CO2 system
engineers) http://www.scantec.com.au
Mayekawa Australia (Ammonia & CO2 equipment
manufacturer) http://www.mayekawa.com
(mayekawa.com.au is coming soon)
Minus40 (Natural refrigerant engineers & designers)
http://www.minus40.com.au
Refrigeration Engineering (RAC services, Fujin
distributor) http://www.refeng.com.au
Technochem Australia (HC refrigerant manufacturer)
http://www.technochem.com.au/ &
http://www.technochem.com
TriTech NSW (Ammonia system engineers and
designers) http://www.tritechnsw.com.au
South East Asian Companies
Environmental NGOs
Automation Co.Ltd. (Thailand HC refrigerant
distributor) http://www.novemeng.com
Greenpeace http://www.greenpeace.org/international
Centre for Energy Environment Research &
Development - CEERD (Thai HC production project)
http://www.ceerd.net
ChatCooling (Thailand HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.chatcooling.com
Coolman Group (Thailand HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.coolmangroup.com
ECI International (Thailand refrigeration system
engineers) www.eci-inter.co.th
Hychill Malaysia (HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.fueltreatmalaysia.com
Hychill China (HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.hychill.com.cn
Nat Energy Resources Singapore (HC refrigerant
distributor) http://www.nat-energy.com.sg/
Pertamina Musicool (HC refrigerant manufacturer)
http://www.pertamina.com/index.php?option=com_co
ntent&task=view&id=2939&Itemid=564
Redtek Thailand (HC refrigerant distributor)
http://www.redtekthailand.com
Environmental Investigation Agency - EIA
http://www.eia-international.org
Institute for Governance and Sustainable
Development IGSD http://www.igsd.org
Montreal Protocol
Visit this page for information on Montreal Protocol
documents and how to participate –
http://www.unep.fr/ozone
Useful references – available at
http://www.greencooling.org
Pedersen, Per Henrik, Potent Greenhouse Gases Ways of Reducing Consumption and Emission of HFCs,
PFCs and SF6, Tema Nord 2007:556. Nordic Council of
Ministers, 2007.
Kathrine Loe Hansen, Emissions from consumption of
HFCs, PFCs and SF6 in Norway, Statistics Norway, 2007.
AIRAH, Natural Refrigerants Case Studies, 2006.
http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/ozone/p
ublications/pubs/refrigerants-guide.pdf