1. Regional Ozone Network
Europe and Central Asia
Options of using low GWP refrigerants
Belgrade, Serbia
International May 10-13, 2011
Institute of
Refrigeration Didier COULOMB,
Director of the International Institute of Refrigeration
International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) - www.iifiir.org

2. Member Countries
 Intergovernmental organization
 60 Member Countries
 Developed and developing countries
International
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Refrigeration

3. The IIR - Members
 Member Countries
 Commission Members (nominated by countries)
Country Number of Number of Commission Members
Category countries per country
1 5 30
2 2 20
3 5 15
4 11 10
5 18 5
6 20 3
International
Institute of  Corporate and Private Members
Refrigeration
- Private companies (equipment, utilities, food and health products,… ),
Consultants, Universities,…
- For valuable and updated information

4. Mission of the IIR
The International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) is the only independent
intergovernmental organization which promotes knowledge of
refrigeration and associated technologies that are necessary for life in a
science-based, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner
including:
 Food quality and safety from farm to consumer
 Comfort in homes and commercial buildings, space heating and
hot water with heat pumps
 Process cooling in many industries
 Health products and services
International
Institute of  Low temperatures and liquefied gas technologies
Refrigeration  Energy efficiency
 Use of non-ozone depleting and low global warming refrigerants
in a safe manner

5. Tools (1)
 Selection of scientific, technical and economical articles from all over
the world, in various languages, included in a database: Fridoc
- 90 000 entries
- 3 000 keywords
- 50 000 authors
 Completely renovated with new functionnalities in 2011.
Free accesss until July 2011.
Please try it.
 Periodicals
- International Journal of Refrigeration (IJR) for scientific articles with
International peer-review. Papers from IIR Conferences can be selected.
Institute of
Refrigeration The best impact factor in its field.
- Newsletter
- Bulletin

6. Tools (2)
 Books, guides:
Technical books, brochures, diagrams…
For instance: the guide, Ammonia as a Refrigerant (2008), with
translations into French and Spanish
 Reference documents:
International Dictionary of Refrigeration (11 languages)… for example
 Training courses
 International standards
International
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Refrigeration  Review articles
 Informatory notes

7. Tools (3)
 Statements prepared for international events:
- Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion:
The last one: MOP22 (Bangkok, Thaïland, November 2010)
- Mitigation of Global Warming and Kyoto Protocol:
The last one: COP-16/CMP-6 (Cancun, Mexico, December 2010)
- Sustainable Development: Johannesburg Summit, 2002
International
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Refrigeration - Food Safety: FAO Forum, 2009
…

8. Tools (4)
 Conferences
 3-6 IIR Conferences per year and
 8-15 IIR co-sponsored Conferences per year on an average
 IIR conferences / IIR co-sponsored / co-organized
23rd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration:
Refrigeration for Sustainable Development
Prague, Czech Republic, August 21-26, 2011
- 42nd International Conference on Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration,
Belgrade, Serbia, November 30-December 2, 2011
- 10th IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Working Fluids (GL2012)
Delft, Netherlands, June 25-27, 2012
International
Institute of -12th Cryogenics 2012, Dresden, Germany, September 11-14, 2012
Refrigeration
- LNG 17 - 17th International Conference & Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas
Houston, United States, April 16-19, 2013
See our Web site: www.iifiir.org

9. Key elements to take into account:
- Reducing greenhouse gases emissions = various solutions:
 Reducing leakage
 Reducing the refrigerant charge
 Choosing a low-GWP refrigerant
 Reducing the energy consumption
- The evolution of regulations:
 The F-gas regulation and its review in Europe
 Montreal Protocol obligations and the current discussions on HFCs
 Safety regulations
- Industrial strategies:
 Refrigerant manufacturers
 Refrigerant prices
 Installers
International
Institute of - Each case is different:
Refrigeration
 Age of the equipment
 Size of the equipment and use of it
 Location of the equipment
 Staff experience

10. Reducing greenhouse gases emissions = Various solutions
1/ Reducing leakage
 Variability
-> Margins for progress
Example: in the EU (30% in the 80s -> 5% and less)
 Key factor: the EU example
The difficulty: training.
2/ Reducing the refrigerant charge
 Issue of safety + GHG emissions:
research and development for all refrigerants
 Secondary refrigerant
International  Microchannels
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Refrigeration
3/ Choosing a low-GWP refrigerant
 What is a low-GWP refrigerant?

11. ../.. Reducing greenhouse gases emissions = Various solutions
 The TEAP report: regulation challenge
 All « very-low-GWP refrigerants » present safety risks and
International drawbacks: flammability, toxicity, corrosion, pressure.
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Refrigeration all need adaptation of the equipment but HFOs need the least:
can be a good solution for drop-in.
However, they are considered as HFCs, thus with the same kind
of regulations as for other HFCs.

12. ../.. Reducing greenhouse gases emissions = Various solutions
4/ Reducing energy consumption
 The energy consumption of the equipment has the main impact on
GHG emissions
 Countries need to reduce the energy consumption for
environmental reasons + electrical capacity reasons
 The price of electricity will increase: new sources of energy have
higher costs
Changing the system because of the refrigerant issue must take into
International account a reduction in the energy consumption.
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Refrigeration

13. The evolution of regulations
1/ The F-gas regulation review
for the European Union = first step for a phase-down of HFCs
The new regulation will be stricter.
Ideas:
 banning pre-charging of equipment
(impact on air-conditioning equipment)
 reducing the charge limit for controls
consequences at least in neighbouring countries
2/ Montreal Protocol obligations and the current discussions
on HFCs
 HCFC phase-out
International  and HFC phase-down in the future (very probably)
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Refrigeration  sooner, international financial incentives for « low-GWP »
refrigerant solutions / « high-GWP » refrigerant solutions
(very probably)

14. ../.. The evolution of regulations
3/ Safety regulations
 A barrier for ammonia,
a barrier for hydrocarbons,
but
 Ammonia is still recognized as the most efficient refrigerant
The example of France: regulations can change
 Hydrocarbons are a good solution for low charges.
International The US example: regulations can change;
Institute of
Refrigeration
barriers would be similar for HFOs and hydrocarbons

15. Industrial strategies
1/ Refrigerant manufacturers
 The will to have only one market = lobbying of Dupont + Honeywell
for HFC phase-down according to the Montreal Protocol; lobbying for
acceptance of HFOs.
 Difficulties: manufacturers in developing countries; industrial
capacity vs the huge market for car air conditioning.
 HFOs will be the refrigerant choice of car manufacturers in Europe;
then in the US, then all over the world.
International
Institute of  HFOs manufacturers are developing products for other uses:
Refrigeration
foams, commercial refrigeration, stationary air conditioning…

16. ../.. Industrial strategies
2/ Refrigerant prices
 There will be shortages:
- shortage of HCFCs because of phase-out in developed countries
(already in force) and because of manufacturers’ forecasts.
- shortage of HFCs produced by HFO manufacturers: they need to
convert their plants
Their price will increase
 The development of HFOs was expensive: their price will be higher
International than those of HCFCs and HFCs
Institute of Even if moving to natural refrigerants is a costly investment, running
Refrigeration
costs will be lower.

17. ../.. Industrial strategies
3/ Installers
2 kinds of positions:
 Limiting the competition (cf AREA’s position):
 Resistance to change, because of lack of expertise, lack of
training (some European countries still have not implemented the
F-gas regulation!)
Working with the installers and funding training when implementing
International
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Refrigeration an HCFC phase-out plan is a necessity.

18. Each case is different
1/ Age of the equipment
 For relatively new equipment:
Drop-in solutions with HFCs and maybe HFOs in the future.
 For old equipment: replacement solutions, taking into account the
energy consumption + solution with natural refrigerant if possible
(safety constraints, quality of maintenance) and low charge, even if
the investment cost is higher.
International 2/ Size of the equipment and use of it
Institute of
Refrigeration  No universal solution
Refrigerant properties are different

19. ../.. Each case is different
3/ Location of the equipment
 Constraints related to the local environment (regulations on
ammonia for instance)
 Ambient temperature constraints (CO2 efficiency is better in
« cold » countries than in « warm » countries for instance).
4/ Staff experience
 The maintenance issue is a key element
International / leakage
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Refrigeration / safety

20. CONCLUSION
 Presentation of the key elements of a strategic plan
 However, numerous current technical developments on low-GWP
refrigerants and on more efficient equipment
 Need for updated information in administrations, in companies, in
universities
The IIR can help you
Become a member.
International
Institute of
Refrigeration See our Web site: www.iifiir.org