Chemours-Mitsui Fluoroproducts will launch in succession new low-GWP HFO-based refrigerants, R463A and R454C to be sold in October and November respectively.

R463A (trade name: OPTEON XP41) is a refrigerant for freezers/refrigerators to replace the existing R404A and R410A for business use. Its GWP is 1494 which saves 28% from that of R410A. The freezing capability and efficiency are equivalent to those of R410A, enabling improvements of COP as they say. ASHRAE classifies its safety as Class A-1 (non-flammable), as identified to be a refrigerant of 5-type mixture like HFO1234yf or HFC32. They say that Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba Carrier have already decided to adopt R463A for some of their product lineup. In addition Seven-Eleven Sagamihara which opened in July started to employ R463A experimentally for the refrigeration of showcases.

R454C (trade name: OPTEON XL20), on the other hand, is a refrigerant for industrial heat pumps, to replace the current refrigerants of R22, R407C andR404A. Its GWP of 148 has attained a reduction rate of 91% to 96% of the three refrigerants. The refrigeration capacity is similar or larger than the existing refrigerants, and the pressure specification is nearly the same as R407C, with a safety property classified by ASHRAE as A-2L (slightly flammable). It is deemed to be a 2-type mixed refrigerant with the addition of HFC32 to HFO1234yf. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems is said to plan to sell a heat pump in which R454C has been employed.

　Chemours-Mitsui is going to develop and recondition the mixing/filling facilities of Shimizu Plant in time for launching the two products into the market. So far for sample shipments of R463A, the company has been importing non refillable containers (to fill 11.35 kg each) and returnable cylinders (to fill 9kg each) respectively. Now it will be changed into the supply of the containers manufactured domestically in Shimizu Plant.

Both of the refrigerants will be made up as products filled in returnable cylinders (20 kg each) in Shimizu Plant after mixing and filling crude gases imported from abroad in ISO containers or the like.

Chemours-Mitsui says, “Both products realized a low GWP to comply with the product designation system under the Act on Proper Management of Fluorocarbons. Furthermore, we have organized a system to make consistent high quality and stable supply of the products by developing locally the mixing/filling facilities ahead of others. We are sure to contribute to the market.”

For reference, with effective from July 1, the company changed the name from DuPont-Mitsui Fluorochemicals to Chemours-Mitsui Fluoroproducts owned 50/50 by Mitsui Chemicals and Chemours. Although the name includes “products,” it does not mean only dedication to the production, but the company is deploying the domestic activity of the whole refrigerant business as before including the production to the logistics and marketing.