F-Gases EU Regulation: R404A Replacement Refrigerants – Compressor

Manufacturer Experience

Zgliczynski Marek Embraco Europe Srl Via Pietro Andriano 12, 10020 Riva presso Chieri ,
Italy marek.zgliczynski@embraco.com
Jozef Sedliak Embraco Slovakia Sro Odorinska Cesta 2, 05201 Spisska Nova Ves ,
Slovakia jozef.sedliak@embraco.com

1. Abstract

Embraco for many years is present as a one of the more active companies in promoting
hermetic compressors for use with alternative refrigerants worldwide. Apart of isobutane in
household type of appliances, significant progress was done in propane implementation into
light commercial plug-in systems as R404A natural alternative. Recent F-Gas EU regulation
is considering ban of high GWP refrigerants in next few years in many types of commercial
applications and will considerably limit the available quantities on the market. Apart of
hydrocarbons many alternative refrigerants were offered by chemical industry. Embraco
performed a number of activities to assess their capacity to replace high GWP refrigerants
presently in use. Main difficulty was found when trying to replace R404A. This paper will
summarize present state of art in alternatives testing like R407A, R407F, R448A, R449A and
others. Focus will be given to reliability aspects rather than to cooling capacity and efficiency.

2. Introduction

Concerns of Global Warming lead to specific measures to limit carbon dioxide emissions in
all fields of human activity including refrigeration and air conditioning industry. Most recent
move of European Union is a new regulation (517/2014), limiting use of refrigerants with high
GWP values (GWP – Greenhouse Warming Potential). Similar measures are expected in the
next future also in other regions. For example Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
United States proposed new legislation limiting to use HFC refrigerants with high GWP. The
EU deadlines for use of refrigerant substances in commercial refrigeration segment are the
following:
1. From January 1st, 2020 - Refrigerators and freezers for storage, display or
distribution of products in retail and food service (commercial use) hermetically
sealed systems that contains HFC with GWP of 2500 or more, will be banned
(e.g. R404A, R507A)
2. From January 1st, 2022 - Refrigerators and freezers for storage, display or
distribution of products in retail and food service (commercial use) hermetically
sealed systems that contains HFC with GWP of 150 or more, will be banned
(e.g. R134a, R407F, R407C, R410A)
3. From January 1st, 2020 - Stationary refrigeration equipment, that contains, or that
relies upon for its functioning HFCs with GWP of 2500 or more except equipment
intended for application design to cool products to temperatures below -50°C
In the meantime, sales and distribution of high GWP gases will be controlled with quota
system and in some European countries specific taxes are already in force. Quantities of
HFC gases available for all applications will be limited based on GWP value (in 2018 49%
less if compared with 2015 usage - 87MTCO2equiv) and industry will be forced to switch
quickly to low GWP alternatives.
 3. Alternative Refrigerants for Commercial Refrigeration

Embraco offers full product line of HC compressors as a final solution to meet EU F-gases
regulation. Most of the existing light commercial application can be converted to use HC
refrigerants. In case of larger applications due to general charge limit of 150 g, multi-circuit
configuration is a feasible option and already applied in some systems. There are still
existing barriers for use of hydrocarbons in some types of applications related to the safety
issues of final product, its cost and appliance manufacturing line investments. Specific
actions are necessary to overcome those issues. Chemical industry is working on potential
candidates to replace currently used high GWP HFC refrigerants. Final replacement for
R404A and R507A is not yet available to meet European regulations in a long term, but
series of intermediate GWP blends were proposed in order to ease the transition to final
situation. The most important intermediate refrigerant candidates are HFC blends like R407F,
R407A, R448A, R449A and R452A. They are all in safety class A1 (not toxic, not flammable)
and they are characterized by considerably higher temperature glide comparing to R404A.
R407F was developed by Honeywell and named also “Performax™ LT”.
R407A known as Forane ® 407A by Arkema or DuPont™ Suva ®407A
R448A, known as Solstice ®N40 developed by Honeywell
R449A developed by Dupont and known also as Opteon ®XP40 (4)
R452A known as Opteon ®XP44, it was developed by Dupont for refrigerated transport sector
with specific intention to limit temperature level, especially in hot ambient situations (2).
Composition and main physical proprieties are indicated in table 1 and table 2
Refrigerant Blend composition (%) GWP
R32 R125 R134a R143a R1234yf R1234ze(E) 100y
R404A -- 44 4 52 -- -- 3920
R407F 30 30 40 -- -- -- 1820
R407A 20 40 40 -- -- -- 2100
R448A 26 26 21 -- 20 7 1386
R449A 24,3 24,7 25,7 -- 25,3 -- 1397
R452A 11 59 -- -- 30 -- 2140
Table 1.Alternative Blends Chemical Composition

R 404A R407F R407A R448A R449A R452A

Type HFC HFC HFC HFC HFC HFC
Safety class A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1
Boiling Temp
-47°C -46°C -45°C -45°C -46°C -47°C
@ 1atm
Critical
72°C 83°C 82°C 84°C 82 °C 75°C
Temperature
Evap.glide @1
0,7K 6K 6K 6K 5K 3K
bar(abs)
Table 2.Alternative Blends Physical Data
For longer term scenario, the industry under AHRI AREP (Alternative Refrigerant Evaluation
Program) is in the 2nd phase of testing of series of new mixtures that will meet requirements
of GWP < 150. Generally they are slightly flammable and belong to A2/A2L classification with
temperature glide up to 12 K. Existing IEC standards are not ready to consider them yet, with
A2 and A2L charge limits are the same of A3 flammable refrigerants.

4. Compressor Approval Process

Every compressor manufacturer defines an operating envelope that limits pressure

conditions to assure design life time . Compressor operation out of envelope limits can lead
to motor overload protector tripping and can cause reliability problems like excessive
bearings wear, valves failure, severe oil degradation or other internal components failure.
Here is an example of Embraco approved envelope for compressors working with R404A in
low back pressure applications.

80

70

60 High Load
130
Cond Temp °C

50

104
40 Low Load

30

20 70

-30 -10 14
10
-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0

Evap Temp ºC

Table 3.LBP Compressor Operating Envelope

Compressors tested with alternative refrigerants were LBP/MBP models primarily used for
R404A refrigerant. For evaluation of high glide refrigerant blends average pressure approach
is recommended (1), like for performance and reliability testing, but in case of extreme
envelope conditions testing as well as for electrical safety check, dew point was selected to
make definition more practical. Difference in behavior with average pressure and with dew
point pressure conditions was considered not significant for this evaluation. Embraco has
tested more critical models with all considered alternatives and compare them with R404A.
Table 4 summarizes test results of selected compressor models in terms of temperature
difference of stator windings and external discharge temperature. Red and yellow box color
indicates that temperatures are out of internal approval criteria temperature limits.
 Embraco internal standards IEC standard
ΔT vs R404A
Winding temp Discharge temp Starting
in deg C
Low Load High Load Low Load High Load AA1 AA2
R407F 24,3 14,3 20,3 19,7 OK 18,6 24,3
R407A 22,8 7,1 15,5 13,6 OK 10 8,5
R448A 17,3 9 7,2 9,6 OK 15,2 13,8
R449A 10,4 3,8 6 5,8 OK 12,5 8,9
R452A 1,4 -6,9 -4,7 -4,5 OK 0,4 0,3

Table 4.New Alternative Refrigerants Approval Testing Results

Compressor temperatures with the same system conditions tend to increase significantly with
R407F and R407A. Relatively lower temperature increment was observed when testing
R448A and R449A in particular. Increasing of temperatures can cause overheating of motor
and/or tripping overload protector. The consequence is reliability and life expectancy
reduction. R452A presented same or lower thermal profile then when tested with R404A.
5. Conclusion

Based on preliminary testing, Embraco cannot consider R407F, R407A, R448A nor R449A
as a drop-in substitution for systems using Embraco R404A compressors. The strong
recommendations stated hereunder shall be duly followed in order to prevent from the above
mentioned potential reliability risks. Usage of mentioned refrigerants can require additional
actions as for instance system condensing temperature reduction (larger condenser,
improved ventilation) or return gas temperature reduction in order to achieve similar thermal
profile as with refrigerant R404A. In particular usage in systems operating under high
compression ratio conditions should be avoided. R452A instead, can be in this stage
considered as a drop-in refrigerant.

6. References

1) G.Hyndy, R. Vittal – “Compressor Performance Definition for Refrigerants with Glide” – Purdue
Conference 2000
2) Barbara MINOR, Vladimir SULC, Jeff BERGE,Michal KOLDA, Michal HEGAR -
“R-404A Alternative with Low Compressor Discharge Temperature” – Purdue Conference 2014
3) Alessandro Borri – “Nuovo Regolamento Europeo F-Gas 517/2014” – Industria & Informazione
4) Barbara Minor, Joachim Gerstel – “Testing of New Low GWP Alternatives in Commercial
Refrigeration” – European Conference Milan 2013
5) Samuel F. Yana Motta, Mark W. Spatz, Gustavo Pottker, Gregory L. Smith “ Refrigerants with Low
Environmental Impact for Refrigeration Applications” – Purdue Conference 2014