During the 2024 China Refrigeration Exhibition held from April 8 to 10, Honeywell brought a series of mature and efficient environment-friendly refrigerant solutions to the exhibition site, showcasing its new refrigerant products and solutions in multiple scenarios, which attracted much attention.
In the context of accelerating the development of new quality productivity in the country, the demand for safer and more energy-saving refrigerants in related industries is gradually rising, bringing new opportunities and challenges, and further stimulating the innovation speed of refrigerant enterprises. As the world's leading refrigeration technology innovator, Honeywell has been at the forefront of environmentally friendly refrigerant substitution in the world by developing and launching a series of products that improve customer needs and create social benefits.
On April 9, Li Baogang, general manager of Honeywell's high-performance materials Asia-Pacific fluoroproducts business, was interviewed by the media to share Honeywell's fourth-generation environmentally friendly and high-efficiency refrigerant products, technologies and application progress in China.
Li Baogang
General Manager, Honeywell Performance Materials, Fluoroproducts Asia Pacific
"As the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of refrigeration products, China has great potential for energy conservation and emission reduction, and the refrigeration industry has become an important force to further promote the 'dual carbon' goal. Honeywell believes that with the deepening of the 'dual carbon' goal and the deepening implementation of energy conservation and emission reduction, more industries will need new refrigerant technology solutions to solve various technical challenges, and Honeywell will continue to introduce new technical solutions according to local conditions to help China achieve the 'dual carbon' goal faster and better comply with the Kigali Amendment." ”
Q1 At present, many countries have introduced many policies and regulations to promote the replacement of refrigerants and respond to climate change, what products or advantages does Honeywell have in this regard?
Li Baogang: The development of the entire refrigerant industry is closely related to policies and regulations, and the development of refrigerants is inseparable from the support and promotion of current international and national regulations. The reason why the third generation of refrigerants need to be replaced is because of their high global warming potential (GWP), which is thousands or even tens of thousands of times that of carbon dioxide in equivalent quantities.
More than a decade ago, Honeywell foresaw the need for lower-GWP solutions to help the world combat climate change, and has been working on the development and expansion of Solstice® technology. Honeywell has developed three monoworking molecules, namely HFO-1233zd, HFO-1234yf, and HFO-1234ze, and has developed a variety of blended refrigerants based on different application scenarios, with a global warming potential far lower than that of third-generation refrigerants.
In terms of quotas, third-generation HFC refrigerants will be reduced and controlled, and Honeywell's low GWP refrigerants can fully meet customer needs. At the same time, the demand for Honeywell's fourth-generation refrigerants and some blends will gradually increase.
In addition, Honeywell not only has environmentally friendly refrigerant technology, but also provides relatively mature solutions in refrigerant recovery. In the process of modification and reconstruction in the current market, the refrigerant is stored in the unit is very large, and there are many refrigerants in the stock market, and this part of the refrigerant is recycled and purified for secondary sales, or mixed with the fourth generation refrigerant into a new refrigerant and sold, which can not only improve the efficiency of resource utilization, but also save the refrigerant production quota.
At present, Honeywell has cooperated with a number of recyclers in Japan to explore and implement secondary sales or blending options. Honeywell looks forward to bringing this experience to the Chinese market in the future to promote the implementation and application of more mature recycling solutions.
Q2 As an international company, Honeywell has developed different kinds of refrigerant products all over the world, what are Honeywell's technical achievements for the Chinese market?
Although the mainstream products in the current domestic refrigerant market are third-generation hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) refrigerants, under the influence of policy promotion and environmental protection needs, the substitution trend of refrigerants has gradually emerged, and the current mainstream third-generation HFC refrigerants will be replaced by more low-carbon fourth-generation refrigerant products in the future.
Li Baogang said that Honeywell, as a global leader in refrigerant technology, produces refrigerants mainly used in household and commercial air conditioners, heat pumps, refrigeration and refrigeration, automotive air conditioners and chillers. We have developed three simple working molecules that are more cost-effective, safe and environmentally friendly. Among them, the main new products suitable for the China and Asia-Pacific markets are R455A, R448A, R454B and R515B.
R455A（Solstice®L40X）：
New equipment for supermarkets, convenience stores, and cold storage. With a GWP of only 148, the refrigerant is an ultra-low GWP alternative to HFC-404A in commercial and industrial refrigerants, reducing GWP by 96% compared to HFC-404A, which is widely used today. The comprehensive carbon emission is lower than that of the CO2 system, and it has excellent energy-saving effect compared with the CO2 refrigeration system. In addition, the initial investment and O&M costs of R455A are significantly lower than those of CO2 refrigeration systems.
R448A（Solstice®N40）：
It is suitable for medium and low temperature industrial and commercial refrigeration systems, and is a non-flammable mixed refrigerant. Compared to the industry's mainstream solutions, R404A and R507A, the refrigerant has 70% lower GWP, is more energy efficient, and can be used as a drop-in replacement in existing equipment with only minor changes.
R454B（Solstice®R454B）：
R410A, the most widely used refrigerant in the industry, has similar performance and energy efficiency, is the preferred alternative to R410A with few system design changes, and has a global warming potential reduction of about 78%, which greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions during operation with advanced technology. At present, it has been certified by many Chinese air conditioning manufacturers to serve the North American market.
R515B（Solstice®N15）：
In response to the fast-growing demand for industrial heat pumps in the Chinese market, Honeywell has launched an azeotropic, safe, non-toxic, non-flammable fourth-generation environmentally friendly hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) blended refrigerant, which can meet the needs of industrial high-temperature heat pumps at 80-100°C, and is more energy-efficient than traditional heating methods in the range of 80-100°C. The solution has a simple system design, which can effectively help users reduce costs and increase efficiency while maintaining stable operation. The global warming potential of this refrigerant is about 77% lower than that of the traditional refrigerant R134a in the industry, which can greatly help enterprises reduce their carbon footprint, and is a breakthrough cutting-edge environmentally friendly technology in the industry.
Zou Guanxing, High Performance Materials Department of Honeywell Energy & Sustainable Technologies Group, presided over the special lecture
Q3: What is the current status of Honeywell's fourth-generation hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) refrigerants in the Chinese market?
Li Baogang: At the national policy level, China will freeze the production and consumption of HFC refrigerants starting this year and gradually reduce the use of HFC refrigerants starting in 2029 in accordance with the Kigali Amendment. As the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of refrigeration products, China has great potential for energy conservation and emission reduction, and the refrigeration industry has become an important force to further promote the "dual carbon" goal. This provides an opportunity for Honeywell to promote the implementation of fourth-generation refrigerants.
As the inventor of the fourth-generation hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) refrigerants, Honeywell is committed to promoting the application of hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) refrigerants in China. Many of Honeywell's hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) refrigerants and HFOs/HFC blends have been used in the Chinese market with good energy savings and economic benefits.
Automotive: In 2022, NIO and Volvo Cars announced the use of Honeywell's ultra-low global warming potential HFO-1234yf refrigerant in several new models in the Chinese domestic market to promote greenhouse gas emission reduction in the automotive industry. Honeywell also won the 2023 Volvo Cars "Sustainability Award" for its outstanding performance of HFO-1234yf refrigerant in the application of electric vehicle thermal management systems.
Industrial and commercial refrigeration: In April 2022, Sinopharm Shanghai Biopharma Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Sinopharm, adopted Honeywell's Solstice®N40 low GWP refrigerant in its vaccine cold storage expansion project in Shanghai to store vaccines developed by Sinopharm and help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the cold chain storage of vaccines.
Industrial heat pumps: In November 2023, Honeywell introduced Solstice® N15 (R515B), an azeotropic, safe, non-toxic, non-flammable, environmentally friendly, fourth-generation hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) blended refrigerant. Honeywell has provided Shanghai Hanbell Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. with Solstice® N15 (R515B), a fourth-generation environmentally friendly hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) blended refrigerant, and the company has announced that it has become a key strategic partner of Honeywell and has developed a high-temperature heat pump compressor for R515B, and will work with Honeywell to actively promote the low-carbon transformation of China's industry.
Central air conditioning: Honeywell and Hisense Home Appliance Group Co., Ltd. reached a cooperation in the field of refrigerant application in March 2024 to provide Hisense with the efficient and environmentally friendly refrigerant Solstice® 454B (R454B) and related technical support.
Q4 What measures will Honeywell take to promote the application of various series of products in China?
Li Baogang: Honeywell will promote the application of products in China through the following measures -
- Shared Technology Roadmap: Honeywell is committed to providing customers and partners with innovative fluorochemical emission reduction strategies to help them improve their environmental performance and social benefits by participating in industry exhibitions, holding technical seminars, and publishing case studies.
- Deepening the practice of local services: Honeywell is committed to combining the three major business trends of automation, future aviation and energy transition, with China's digital economy and green and low-carbon transformation to drive impactful local innovation.
- Establish an industry ecosystem: Honeywell will use its own brand, channel and technology advantages to unite upstream and downstream, associations and brands to create a comprehensive ecosystem. Honeywell hopes to work with more customers and partners to promote the implementation of innovative low-carbon technologies in China and help the low-carbon transformation of refrigeration, heat pump and other industries.
Through this interview, we can deeply feel that Honeywell, as the world's leading refrigerant supplier, pays attention to technology research and development and product innovation, and provides customers with products that comply with policies and regulations and protect the environment. Honeywell said that it will continue to take technological innovation as the core driving force for future development, continue to promote and actively lead the implementation and application of fourth-generation hydrofluoroolefin (HFOs) refrigerants in the Chinese market, create green demand, shape low-carbon fashion, and empower the high-quality development of the industry with new quality productivity.