Refrigerant news: Mexichem

Mexichem intends to compete with DuPont and Honeywell in the development of a replacement refrigerant for HFC-134a in car air conditioning systems. The company, which in February 2010 bought the Ineos fluorochemicals unit, has announced plans to launch "AC5" which will compete with HFO-1234yf. While AC5's GWP of less than 100 cannot match the GWP of 4 claimed by its rival, Mexichem claims that it is more energy-efficient than R-1234yf and matches or beats the energy efficiency of HFC-134a. The refrigerant is expected to be available for the car industry by the middle of next year. Initial trials of AC5 in stationary systems are reported to have been very successful. Further trials will be carried out next year as well as trials on blend replacements for a number of other existing HFC refrigerants.