US air conditioning giant Carrier has selected R32 refrigerant to replace R410A in commercial scroll chillers.
Carrier says that R32 was chosen for its lower environmental impact, high energy efficiency, wide availability and ease of use.
In Europe, the refrigerant will be offered in some scroll chillers beginning in the first half of this year. Carrier says that the R32 chillers will follow in other regions to meet the Kigali Amendment regulations taking effect in 2023.
Most of Carrier’s main competitors – Lennox, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and, inevitably, Daikin – have gone for R32 as their replacement for R410A chillers. Now Carrier has chosen the “mildly flammable” A2L refrigerant in front of Honeywell’s non-flammable R466A.
“Carrier focuses the right refrigerant for each application in order to provide the very best solutions for our customers,” said Chris Nelson, Carrier’s HVAC-commercial president. “After thorough evaluation of the options, Carrier selected R32 for scroll chillers and heat pumps for its lower impact on the environment, reaffirming our continued commitment to sustainability.”
This announcement follows Carrier’s 2018 selection of R454B as its primary lower GWP solution to replace R410A in ducted residential and package unitary commercial products utilising scroll compressors sold in North America. R454B is another A2L refrigerant, a blend of 68.9% R32 and 31.1% 1234yf. It has a GWP of 466.
Carrier also previously announced commitments to move toward low GWP refrigerants with the selection of the HFO R1234ze(E) for screw chillers in Europe in 2015, the introduction of R513A in multiple centrifugal and screw chillers in 2018 and producing an R1233zd(E) AquaEdge 19DV centrifugal in 2016.
