Refrigeration engineer John Dye of JD Cooling is warning cold-storage users to be prepared for changes in the fight against global warming that will affect the products they can use in their systems from next year.
JD Cooling supplies refrigeration plant and services to the fresh produce sector and managing director Dye now warns of an impending review of the F-Gas regulations which will target HFCs with a high global-warming potential (GWP).
“Now that the effects of the F-Gas Regs can be measured year on year, the European Commission is targeting HFC refrigerants with high GWPs. This is measured against CO2 itself with the lowest commonly used refrigerant being R134a at 1,300 and one of the highest R404a at 3,922.”
JD Cooling has been working with clients and suppliers on trials for some time on R407F, a new refrigerant which Dye explains is a “drop in” for R404a but with less than half the GWP and well under the target level of 2,500 which will be set by the revised F-Gas regulations next year.
JD Cooling’s efforts to develop systems in line with demand and legislation have seen multiple installations of the new R407F systems for many major UK producers and these systems are rapidly becoming industry standard.
Dye now predicts further changes over the next two to three years. He said: “F-Gas is being reviewed with a view to phase out HFCs by 2030 and whilst R407F will be a key contributor towards bridging the gap between what is economically available now and what will come along to replace HFCs in the longer term, the changes will no doubt make people think even harder about investing in totally green solutions and the cut-off point as to what size system might be best suited to such a solution will no doubt be lower than it has been previously.”
