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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updates its list of low GWP refrigerants

The US EPA has added new lower GWP refrigerants and expanded the acceptable uses of others in its latest changes to the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) programme.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces regulations passed by Congress, such as the Clean Air Act, that was passed in 1963 and has been regularly amended.

 

In 1990, three years after the signature of the Montreal Protocol, the Title VI of the Clean Air Act focused on stratospheric ozone protection. The Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) was therefore created by the EPA to review substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals within a comparative risk framework in different sectors, including refrigeration and air conditioning.

 

In this context, the EPA regularly updates a list of new acceptable low GWP refrigerants.

 

 

On July 21, 2017, the EPA updated the previous list of 2016, adding the following refrigerants:


  • R134a in residential and light commercial air conditioning and heat pumps (retrofit equipment). Its global warming potential (GWP) is 1,430.

  • HFE-7300 in non-mechanical heat transfer systems. Its GWP is approximately 310.

  • R407H in retail food refrigeration. It is a blend of R134a, R21 and R125 with a GWP around 1,500. It is listed as acceptable to replace R404A and R22.

  • R442A in retail food refrigeration. It is a blend of R32, R125, R134a, R152a and R227ea, with a GWP around 1,890.

  • R448A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. Its GWP is around 1,390.

  • R449A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. It has a GWP around 1,400.

  • R449B in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses, with a GWP of 1,410.

  • R452A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. It is listed for the first time as an acceptable substitute for use in refrigerated trucks and trailers and remote retail condensing units. Its GWP is around 2,140 and has already been adopted in Europe as a replacement for R404A in refrigerated transport.

  • R452C in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. It has a GWP of about 2,220.

  • R453A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. Its GWP is around 1,770.

  • R458A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. It has a GWP of about 1,650.

  • R513A in multiple refrigeration and air conditioning end-uses. It has a GWP of about 630.

 

Environmental and flammability information as well as comparisons to other substitutes are given for each refrigerant in the volume 82 of the Federal Register.

 

Sources: The Cooling Post, EPA website