Refrigerants – the way forward

In the air conditioning industry, all refrigerants are limited to single component refrigerants. Refrigerant manufacturers should develop replacements for these single component refrigerants that meet all the requirements of the air conditioning systems:

•    It should be environmentally acceptable
•    Boiling point
•    Refrigerant should be non-flammable and non-toxic.
•    Should have chemical stability
•    Material compatibility
•    Refrigeration-cycle performance

Criteria to select the refrigerant

Many R-22 refrigerant replacements that are under consideration are not good. The air conditioning industry has experimented with different types of refrigerants.

The mixture component that is selected is based on the final characteristics desired. These characteristics are vapour pressure, transport properties, material compatibility and lubricant.  The proportions of components which are selected are based upon the exact characteristics desired in the final products.

Evaluation of the refrigerant alternatives
Researchers are focused primarily on identifying the possible alternatives to the R-22 and R-502 refrigerants. As a part of the research work, tests were conducted on 19 refrigerants that were identified as potential replacements for R-22.

Future direction
HFCs has zero ozone-depletion as an advantage over R-22 but these refrigerants still have a moderate direct effect on global warming.

It is very important to recognise the evolutionary process. HFC’s are the next step but not the last step in the process.