General Information and notes

Retrofit to refrigerants with low ozone depletion potential (ODP) and low global warming potential (GWP*)? Why?

Stratospheric ozone depletion and atmospheric greenhouse effect due to refrigerant emissions have led to drastic changes in the refrigeration and air conditioning technology since the beginning of the 1990s. The use of fluorinated chlorohydrocarbons (CFC und HCFC) and fluorinated hydrocarbons (FC und HFC) have been regulated. Meanwhile, legal specifications have been enacted which prohibit the use of (H)CFCs and gradually phase-out HFCs.

• With the Montreal Protocol in 1987, fluorinated chlorohydrocarbons (CFCs), which contribute to the stratospheric ozone depletion, were prohibited. Later on, HCFCs were prohibited – with a gradually phase-down for Article 5 countries until 2040.
• The EU F-Gas Regulation of 2014 goes one step further and gradually reduces the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which function as replacements for the HCFCs, until 2030 in the EU. Therefore, refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP) will become increasingly scarce in the future. However, most alternative refrigerants with low global warming potential are flammable ‒ of these, A2L refrigerants are less flammable than A3 refrigerants.
• Moreover, with the amendments of the Kigali Conference to the Montreal Protocol in 2016, the HFC phase-down was specified at international level.

*GWP = Global Warming Potential is a substance-specific quality: Contribution to gobal warming per kg emitted substance of CO₂ equivalent.