United States. Honeywell announced that it has begun large-scale commercial production of a low global warming potential (GWP) material, used as a refrigerant, aerosol propellant and insulating agent.
The material, known by the industry designation HFO-1234ze and marketed by Honeywell under its Solstice line of low global warming materials, is being produced at Honeywell Fluorine Products' facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"The Baton Rouge production facility is ready to serve customers around the world with this innovative material, which has an ultra-low global warming potential of less than 1," said Ken Gayer, vice president and general manager of Honeywell's fluoride products business. "We are seeing increased demand for our entire Solstice line of low global warming potential materials, and this new product has already been adopted by a wide range of customers globally."
According to the company, HFO-1234ze is a state-of-the-art material that does not deplete ozone, is non-flammable, was tested by ASTM E681 and ISO 10156:2010, and has a GWP of less than 1. It is also not a volatile organic compound (VOC), as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
HFO-1234ze is considered a preferred substitute for both HFC-134a (which has GWP of 1,300) and HFC-152a (which is flammable and has a global warming potential of 138). HFC-134a is also being considered for large stationary and commercial refrigeration applications and, compared to other low-GWP refrigerant options, the HFO-1234ze offers energy efficiency benefits.
