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Matthew Frank, P.E., Mark S. Spector, Ph.D., Neil Antin

Further Investigations of Low Global Warming Potential
(GWP) Alternatives in Navy Chillers
ABSTRACT
The American Innovation and Manufacturing
(AIM) Act (Public Law 116-260), as well as an
international agreement (Kigali Amendment to
the Montreal Protocol), calls for an 85%
reduction of the production and consumption of
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 2036. HFCs are
used as the refrigerant in air conditioning (AC)
plants (commonly called chillers), refrigeration
units for chilled/frozen food storage and pumped
two-phase cooling applications that support
various mission critical functions for U.S. Navy
ships. This legislation is likely to affect the
future availability and cost of these HFC’s. The
ability to transition to non-HFCs or lower global
warming potential (GWP) HFCs is being
investigated with a focus on the safety and
performance. This paper summarizes findings,
challenges, and opportunities from the initial
research efforts to identify low-GWP
replacements for refrigerant HFC-134a that are
suitable for use on Navy platforms.
BACKGROUND
Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are
known as greenhouse gases. These greenhouse
gases have varying GWP. GWP is defined as
the heat absorbed by the specific gas in the
atmosphere as a multiple of the heat that would
be absorbed by the same mass of carbon dioxide
(CO2) over a specified period of time, usually
100 years, unless specified otherwise.
The historical trend of greenhouse gas emissions
in the United States from 1990 to 2021 is shown
in Table 1. Although HFCs gases are being
emitted in smaller quantities relative to other
greenhouse gases, these gases have long
atmospheric lifetimes with GWP values
thousands of times larger than carbon dioxide.
HFC gases have no known natural source and
originate from human-related activities. The
dominant source of emissions of HFCs is
leakage from vapor compression cooling
systems such as chillers and food storage
refrigeration systems. The AIM Act (enacted as
section 103 in Division S, Innovation for the
Environment, of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-
260)) and implementing regulations in 40 CFR
Subpart 84 (Phasedown of Hydrofluorocarbons)
calls for an 85% reduction of HFCs by 2036. As
these regulations are enforced, the availability
and price of these HFCs are likely to result in
supply chain challenges for U.S. Navy ships.

Table 1 – Trend in U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Million Metric Tons CO2 Equivalent) (EPA 2023)
Gas/Source 1990 2005 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 5121.4 6132.4 5212.1 5378.0 5259.8 4714.4 5048.2
Methane (CH4) 868.7 791.2 762.8 774.2 767.8 742.3 727.4
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) 396.7 405.1 402.8 418.5 399.1 377.7 384.8
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) 39 116.4 160.8 160.9 165.4 168.2 175.1
Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) 21.8 6.1 3.8 4.3 4 3.9 3.5
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) 30.5 15.5 7.2 7.1 7.8 7.5 8
Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3) < 0.05 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6
Total Gross Emissions 6,478.3 7466.9 6550.0 6743.4 6604.4 6014.5 6347.7

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The AIM Act mandates that EPA allocate the
full quantity of HFC production and
consumption allowances for mission-critical
military end uses (MCMEU), which includes
Navy shipboard chillers. However, it also
mandates that the EPA review the availability of
substitutes not less than once every five years.
In addition, the EPA regulations implementing
the AIM Act (40 CFR Subpart 84) require that
Department of Defense (DoD) provide, as part
of their annual HFC allowance allocation
request for MCMEU, a description of plans to
transition to HFCs or HFC blends with a lower
exchange value (exchange value is equivalent to
GWP) or alternatives to HFCs, including not-in-
kind substitutes.
Furthermore, EPA granted petitions under the
Technology Transition Subsection (i) of the
AIM Act in October 2021, which called for a
2024 ban on the use of refrigerants with a GWP
greater than 750 in new stationary chillers. EPA
made the determination that suitable substitutes
are available for commercial chillers. Similarly,
several States including California, Washington,
and Virginia have passed regulations banning
the use of HFC-134a and other refrigerants with
GWP greater than 750 in new stationary chillers
effective 1 January 2024. In December 2022,
EPA issued a proposed technology transition
rule to address the petitions that were granted.
Although the petitions requested a GWP limit of
750 for chillers, EPA made the determination
that suitable substitutes were available with
GWPs of less than 700, and therefore proposed
this lower limit. The proposed rule would
prohibit manufacture and import of chillers
containing refrigerants with GWPs greater than
700 by 1 January 2025. The one-year delay in
the effective date was chosen to ensure
compliance with the AIM Act which prohibits
an effective date that is less than 12-months
from the publication of the final rule which is
expected in the summer of 2023. If EPA
finalizes the rule as proposed, the 700 GWP
limit would also override the state limits of 750
GWP on 1 January 2025.
In 2022, the Office of Naval Research (ONR)
began a program to research low GWP (GWP
<700) alternatives for HFC-134a (GWP-1430)
in naval surface ship chillers. This paper
discusses findings and expands upon a previous
paper [Frank and Spector, 2022].
PRELIMINARY HAZARD ANALYSIS
A preliminary hazard analysis (PHA) was
conducted to evaluate R-450A, R-513A,
hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) -1234yf and HFO-
1234ze(E) as drop-in replacements for HFC-
134a in naval surface ship centrifugal
compressor chiller applications. The PHA
documents and assesses various risks associated
with each alternative refrigerant and includes
topics such as pressure vessel safety,
flammability, toxicity, ignitions sources (and
how these all relate to various leak and rupture
events), performance and material compatibility.
The PHA identified 48 risks, in which additional
research and development (R&D), test and
evaluation (T&E) and/or analysis is required. It
is intended to guide the Navy, providing a
process that can be used to approve low-GWP
refrigerants for shipboard use.
Note that in accordance with the Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) Significant New
Alternatives Policy (SNAP) [EPA, 2023], HFO-
1234yf is not listed as an acceptable refrigerant
for chillers. The SNAP program provides a list
of acceptable and unacceptable substitutes for
various end-uses based on an analysis of risks to
human health and the environment. HFO-
1234yf is an acceptable alternative for HFC-
134a for use in mobile vehicle air conditioners.
Additional refrigerants can be submitted for an
end use application by submitting a package to
the SNAP program for review.
Pressure Vessel Safety
The refrigerant saturation pressure at 150
degrees Fahrenheit (°F), or 65.6 degrees Celsius
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(°C) is the maximum design pressure for the Table 2 – Refrigerant A2L Flammability
pressure boundary of all Navy mil-spec HFC- Parameter Definition
134a chillers based on a compartment casualty
Test Exhibits flame propagation when
condition with the chiller secured. For HFC- Condition tested per ASHRAE-STD-34 at 60°C
134a, this corresponds to 265 pounds per square (140°F) and 101.3 kPa (14.7 psia), and
at 50% relative humidity at 23°C
inch gauge (psig). The vapor pressure of each
(12°C dew point) and:
refrigerant alternative was evaluated at this
Lower > 0.10 kg/m³ (0.0062 lb/ft³), and
design condition, at which overboard pressure Flammable
relief valves actuate to protect the pressure Limit (LFL)
vessel. Minor differences were noted, with R- Heat of <19,000 kJ/kg (8169 BTU/lbm) and
Combustion
513A having the highest saturation pressure
Burning ≤ 10 cm/s (3.9 in/s) when tested at
(greater than HFC-134a), but all are within safe Velocity 23°C (73.4°F) and 101.3 kPa (14.7
design margins. psia)

The minimum required discharge capacity of the

safety relief device has also increased by 26.2% An overview of the ASHRAE Standard-34
for HFO-1234yf and 17.2% for R-513A as classifications of the four evaluated low GWP
calculated using methodology specified within refrigerants are summarized in Table 3. Ideally,
the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating refrigerants with a safety group designation of
and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) “A1” and high exposure limit are preferred.
Standard 15. New relief valves would be
required to accommodate this difference. Table 3 – Refrigerant Safety Characteristic
ASHRAE ASHRAE
Refrigerant GWP
Additionally, the specific volume of some of Classification Exposure Limit
HFO-1234yf <1 A2L 500 ppm
these low GWP alternatives are greater than
R-513A, a blend of 56% HFO-
HFC-134a. This will increase operating charges 1234yf & 44% HFC-134a
629 A1 650 ppm

within the chillers and may have consequences
in receiver sizing and onboard spare refrigerant
storage. For example, between three to six
additional cylinders would be required for the
Navy ships using our largest chillers if converted
to use R-513A.
Safety
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
Standard 34 classifies the safety aspect of
different refrigerants with a capital letter and a
number. The first capital letter (A or B)
classifies toxicity. “A” being less toxic and “B”
being more toxic. Next is a number from 1 to 3
designating flammability with “1” being non-
flammable, “2” being flammable and “3” being
extremely flammable. Subclass 2L was added,
which designates mildly flammable with details
specified in Table 2.
HFO-1234ze(E) 6 A2L 800 ppm
R-450A, a blend of 58% HFO-
601 A1 880 ppm
1234ze(E) & 42% HFC-134a
HFC-134a 1430 A1 1000 ppm
Industry testing has shown that the flammability
of A2L HFO refrigerants increases with
humidity. Navy machinery spaces are typically
not air-conditioned but are cooled by ventilation
with outside ambient air, in which the absolute
humidity levels are often far greater than the
ASHRAE standard test condition. All medium
pressure (boiling pressure in evaporator greater
than 15.7 but less than 75 pounds per square
inch absolute(psia)), low GWP refrigerants,
intended for chillers are blends of a flammable
refrigerant and HFC-134a.
The semi-confined, naval machinery space with
large refrigerant charge versus compartment
volume poses a significant vapor cloud ignition
hazard in the event of a large leak or rupture.
There are numerous ignition sources within the

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machinery room in which these chillers are
installed, with some chillers collocated with gas
turbine generators.
ASHRAE Standard 15 provides machinery room
requirements when using an A2L refrigerant.
There are many areas in which compliance
would be difficult. The most difficult would be
the requirement to secure all electrical power
sources (greater than 1 kilovolt-ampere) within a
space and increase ventilation to as much 25,000
cubic feet per minute when the refrigerant
concentration exceeds 25% of the lower
flammability limit. Securing power to an entire
space is not practical for a naval combatant
without potentially compromising the ships
combat/defensive capability. Furthermore,
increasing ventilation to the specified
requirements would significantly impact the ship
design, likely resulting in a larger ship with
reduced survivability and combat fight-through
capability. A military specification for a new
design compartment halocarbon (refrigerant)
monitor meeting the intent of ASHRAE
Standard 15 is under development. It would
incorporate all applicable sensor and time
response features minus active control, which
due to cybersecurity, is delegated to certified
supervisory systems such as the ship’s
Machinery Control System.
For these reasons, utilization of A2L mildly
flammable refrigerants in a chiller on Navy ships
is not feasible. There are also concerns with R-
450A and R-513A. For example, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
conducted more stringent flammability tests
using a modified Japanese high-pressure gas law
(JHPGL) setup (similar to ASTM E918), in
which the pressure in a two-liter combustion
chamber is measured as a metric for
flammability. Pressure rises for R-513A and R-
450A at only 12°C (53.6°F) dewpoint were
approximately 0.47, and 0.26 atmospheres, as
compared to 0.12 for HFC-134a [Domanski and
McLinden, 2023]. Consequently, the Navy is
investigating additional flammability testing
with ASTM E2079 at the extremes of
operational temperature and humidity.
As shown in Table 2, the 8-hour time weighted
average exposure limits for these refrigerants as
specified within ASHRAE Standard 34 are 15%
to 50% less than legacy HFCs and may not have
the same margin of chronic toxicity safety.
Further review by Navy Industrial Hygienists
and Toxicologists is required to establish Navy
Occupation Exposure Limits (OEL) in
accordance with Office of the Chief of Naval
Operations (OPNAV) M-5100.23 taking into
account that shipboard exposure can exceed 8-
hours per day and 40-hours per week.
Furthermore, while all fluorinated refrigerants
thermally decompose to hydrogen fluoride and
hydrofluoric acid, some industry testing
indicates that the HFO refrigerants may
decompose at lower temperature (approximately
10% less) and at a faster rate than HFC-134a.
This becomes a potential risk for equipment
having hot surface design temperature such as
resistance ventilation heaters. Shipboard
firefighting already uses in some spaces (but not
all) water spray cooling to minimize the
halogenated acids generated from fluorinated
fire extinguishing agents. It’s important to
understand that the secondary damage from fire
related gases such as hydrofluoric acid can be
greater than the fire itself. Consequently, the
Navy is investigating additional testing to better
assess the onset of thermal decomposition and
what actions may be necessary to mitigate the
risk.
A simplified model was developed to evaluate
refrigerant levels in a space using representative
minimal and maximum ventilation rates during a
small and large pressure boundary failure. This
analysis was performed to determine the
expected concentrations from these events and
the time experienced in the flammable zone, in
which the refrigerant concentration is between
the lower and upper flammable limits. In
general, from an acute toxicity perspective, the
four low GWP refrigerants do not present any
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greater risk than already presented by HFC-
134a.
However, the large refrigerant charge versus
small compartment volume with a wide range of
ignition sources presents a transient risk that is
not unlike that used when evaluating large
releases of liquid natural gas (LNG).
Consequently, the Navy analyzed the risks
accordingly and the PHA summary
recommendation being “The use of any
refrigerant on a naval surface ship that can pose
a risk of a vapor cloud explosion is not prudent
and should not be pursued.”. Ultimately, the
Navy’s goal is to perform additional analysis,
research, and testing to provide maximum
reasonable assurance of ship and crew safety in
the event of a casualty.
Modeling of Navy’s Chillers
Flexible chiller models do not exist in the public
domain. The ability to accurately model chillers
is crucial to assessing the impact of using lower
GWP refrigerants alternatives. Consequently,
being able to predict differences among different
refrigerants, such as capacity differences at rated
conditions, energy difference within the
operational range and limitations is required. A
previous chiller model was refined to
incorporate additional fidelity. Fidelity
improvement focused on the compressor,
controls, and the calculation of boiling and
condensing coefficients. The model calculates
thermodynamic properties using NIST
Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport
Properties (REFPROP) Version 10 functions
[Lemmon 2018].
The ability to model the compressor is of utmost
importance as this is where most of the cycle
inefficiencies occur while operating at various
load conditions in environments ranging from
arctic to tropical. Unfortunately, obtaining
information to accurately model the compressor
is difficult because detailed analysis requires
access to proprietary compressor maps from the
manufacture that are generally not released.
These compressor maps are experimentally
generated in dedicated compressor test facilities
and represent a significant investment by the
manufacturer. To complicate this situation,
compressor performance is affected by various
control devices (pre-rotational vanes, variable
geometry diffuser, hot gas bypass, economizer
control valve and/or variable speed drive). As
these details were not available, a generic
compressor map was developed using
information obtained from back-calculating
necessary parameters from various sets of
certified test results of various military qualified
centrifugal compressor chillers. Control
algorithms were adopted within the model to
account for their effects, when appropriate.
It is also important to capture performance
differences within the evaporator and condenser
among the different refrigerants. All Navy
HFC-134a military specification chillers use seal
welded (for reduced emissions), enhanced
copper tubes in the evaporator and finned
titanium tubes in the condenser. Boiling and
condensing coefficients are often determined
using test rigs in which a number of individual
tubes are tested with a range of water flow rates
and heat fluxes at a desired boiling or
condensing temperature. To date, this testing
has not been accomplished with any tubes used
within Navy chillers using any of the HFC-134a
refrigerant alternatives. Boiling and condensing
coefficients were calculated based on several
correlations [Thome 2006] for each refrigerant
alternative and compared with that of HFC-
134a. The proportion was then scaled to the
appropriate tube correlation with HFC-134a to
determine the magnitude of degradation or
enhancement to this thermal resistance.
After these updates, the model, which includes
over sixty inputs, was able to calculate
performance of a centrifugal compressor chiller
using various refrigerants. Results of the model
were compared with applicable factory certified
first article test data, as recorded by the
manufacturer for two HFC-134a chillers, the
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350-ton variable speed High Efficiency Super
Capacity (HESC) chiller and the fixed speed
500-ton chiller. Model results were generally
within five percent throughout the tested range.
Differences among refrigerant candidates R-
450A, R-513A and HFO-1234yf could then be
determined. HFO-1234ze(E) was not evaluated
in detail since this refrigerant is not applicable
for drop-in/back-fit due to excessive loss of
capacity (>15%).
A total of three chillers were analyzed. With the
exception of the 200-ton chiller with R-450A,
the 350-ton HESC and 500-ton chillers are
expected to lose some capacity when operating
with the evaluated low GWP refrigerants at their
rated design conditions. Summary of the results
compared to HFC-134a cooling capacity are
shown in Table 4.
Table 4 – Low GWP Cooling Capacity as
Compared with HFC-134a
Chiller R-450A R-513A HFO-1234yf
200-ton 102.9% 95.4% 95.4%
HESC 95.6% 97.1% 94.0%
500-ton 90.2% 94.9% 89.9%
Loss of capacity is a serious concern for the
Navy. The growing emergent need for advanced
electronic countermeasure and warfare systems
are all competing for more power and cooling.
Additionally, ships are designed for a finite
amount of cooling service life margin, and any
loss of capacity is a major concern. For the
HESC and the 500-ton chillers, there are
equipment modifications that can be made to
pull-back the loss of capacity but not without
considerable investment and not without using
more power.
Life Cycle Climate Performance
Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) is an
evaluation method to evaluate the global
warming impact from manufacturing to disposal.
This method analyzes the combined direct
emission of refrigerants to the atmosphere
through its service life from leaks, servicing, and
disposal; and indirect emissions from CO2 that
are emitted by generating the electrical power to
drive the chiller over its lifetime. This becomes
complex as Navy ships are generally powered by
shore power supplied from the electrical grid
when in-port and reliant on shipboard power
plants at sea. And at-sea, the cooling load will
vary widely based on time of year, world-wide
location, and ship operating condition. LCCP
also includes embodied emissions to capture the
global warming effects of manufacturing,
transport, installation, and disposal of this
equipment. The lower the LCCP is, the better it
is for the environment.
With most ships being fossil fueled, it is
obviously desirable that any lower GWP
refrigerant replacement provides energy
efficiency not less than comparable to that of the
HFCs currently in use. If not, the benefits from
direct (leakage) emissions will be offset by
indirect (fuel burned for power) emissions. To
analyze the energy usage difference for the
various low GWP refrigerants, an annual ship
operating profile was used, and is briefly
summarized in Table 5. The actual profile
breaks down estimated hours at load between
20-100% and seawater temperatures between
28-95°F.
Table 5 – Annual Ship Operating Profile
Operating Condition Hours Operating
In-Port 3500
Anchor (at-sea) 880
Battle (at-sea) 880
Cruise (at-sea) 3500
Energy usage is then calculated for the
operational profile using results from the chiller
model. Energy usage under each condition is
tabulated to determine total chiller power usage
in megawatts-hours (MW-hrs). After which, the
chiller total power usage is converted to mega
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joules (MJ). The total annual fuel consumption

is calculated based on the energy source
efficiency assumed to average 25 percent when
at sea. CO2 emissions are calculated based on
the properties of the fuel when underway and
assumed to be 0.07 kg per MJ when in-port and
connected to shore power.
Calculating the direct LCCP impact from
refrigerant leakage was based first on the
nominal expected annual leakage from the Figure 1 – Refrigerant Leakage Comparison
chillers shown in Table 6 and then corrected for The top-level summary of the LCCP impact
the low GWP refrigerant fluid properties. from the three different low GWP refrigerants
Table 6 – Annual Chiller Leakage for a ship equipped with the 350-Ton HESC
Chiller Annual HFC-134a
chillers is shown in Figure 2. The associated
Leakage (% charge) change in the annual carbon footprint is
negligible. This analysis assumes the loss of
200-ton, open-drive, oil 15%
lubricated, seal-welded tubes capacity can be recovered by using more power.
The carbon footprint will not be significantly
HESC, hermetic, oil-free, 2.5%
seal-welded tubes
impacted from using these lower GWP
alternatives in this low refrigerant emission
500-ton, hermetic, oil- 5%
chiller.
lubricated, seal welded tubes

Using criteria specified in the American

National Standards Institute [ANSI 2022],
modeling of annual leakage was performed
[Anderson et al, 1994]. First, the leak path
diameter to cause 0.5 ounces per year (limit for
leakage from a new joint) of HFC-134a leakage
was determined. From this, the subsequent
leakage from the candidate refrigerants through
the same leak path could be compared and is
shown in Figure 1. R-513A and HFO-1234yf
are likely to result in about 20% more leakage
while R-450A is expected to leak near
equivalent to HFC-134a.
Figure 2 – Equivalent Annual CO2 Emissions for
Ship with HESC Chillers using Operating Profile

However, the 200-ton chiller is a different story

and shows an appreciable LCCP benefit with R-
450A as indicated in Figure 3. The 200-ton was
the Navy’s first HFC-134a chiller and the
compressor design was not fully optimized for
HFC-134a. For that reason, as indicated in

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Table 4, additional capacity is expected when
operating with R-450A. Additionally, not being
a low emissions design, the 200-ton chiller
benefits the most from any low GWP refrigerant
with regard to direct emissions.
Figure 3 – Equivalent Annual CO2 Emissions for
Ship with 200-ton Chillers using Operating Profile
Material Compatibility
In general, these low-GWP refrigerants are
expected to behave similarly to HFC-134a.
Many specific manufacture seals, gaskets
polymers and motor materials have already been
tested with HFO-1234yf and HFO-1234ze(E)
refrigerants using typical lubricants [Majurin et
al, 2014].
However, elastomer manufacturers often
develop proprietary formulations so that
compatibility of generic material categories such
as neoprene can vary. Consequently, original
equipment manufacturers (OEM) of chillers
often develop proprietary elastomeric
formulations to optimize acceptable
performance such as compression set and swell.
Consequently, the Navy, for critical chiller
applications, restricts elastomers to those
approved by the OEM.
It is also noted that sample rotorettes and
motorettes from hermetic motors with vacuum
sealed insulation systems will require testing for
validation purposes. The Navy has not had a
hermetic motor burn-out in over 25 years.
Overall, the risk of current materials proving to
be incompatible with candidate low GWP
refrigerants is low.
NEXT STEPS FOR BACKFIT
APPLICATIONS
The risks and hazards identified by the PHA
must be mitigated before a low-GWP refrigerant
is approved for shipboard use; the primary
concerns as previously addressed being safety
and performance. Thus far, and consistent with
industry, R-513A is the best available candidate
for a near universal refrigerant replacement for
HFC-134a with a GWP value less than 700, but
is not without risk. The one anomaly, which
came as a surprise, was the gain of cooling
capacity by using R-450A with the 200-ton
chiller, which has very limited risk. Of the two
A2L refrigerants, HFO-1234yf is significantly
more flammable than HFO-1234ze(E), which is
the base of the R-450A blend having the higher
OEL.
With the exception of the 200-ton chiller and
reflected in Table 6, all subsequent new surface
ship chiller designs are essentially low emissions
designs. The overall direct emissions,
environmental benefit of moving to a low GWP
refrigerant is marginal as noted in Figure 2, the
performance deficit noted in Table 4
notwithstanding.
The 200-ton is the one chiller that could benefit
both in performance and environmentally from
being converted to low GWP R-450A. While
this chiller is no longer in production (replaced
by the HESC), it is currently the dominant HFC-
134a chiller in the Navy with over 200 units
installed. Consequently, any low GWP
Conversion Program should first focus on the
200-ton chiller accordingly with testing an
actual unit a priority. A complication is that the
Navy does not have a land-based 200-ton chiller
for testing, and with Fleet assets already stressed
by current commitments, using a Fleet asset is
not practical.
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FORWARD FIT OPTIONS
The average service life of a naval surface
combatant is 30+ years and aircraft carriers are
now near 50-years. Navy chillers are designed
to last the service life of the ship and are
installed accordingly with limited options for
wholesale replacement other than dry-docking,
major hull cuts and ship disassembly.
Developing new chillers using R-450A or R-
513A does not appear prudent as these
refrigerants still contain 42-44% HFC-134a. It
does not avoid the future HFC-phase-down
supply risk.
There are currently fourteen EPA SNAP
approved refrigerant for chillers with GWP
values less than 700. Of these and excluding
high pressure alternatives such as CO2, the only
available non-HFC refrigerants are low pressure.
Industry appears to now be targeting these low-
pressure designs as the next generation of new
chillers. The risk with low pressure fluorinated
refrigerants is that the evaporator portion
operates in a partial vacuum.
Historically, the Navy has experienced
difficulties maintaining systems operating in
vacuum. Two examples include CFC-11
centrifugal chillers and lithium bromide (LiBr)
absorption plants. These plants proved very
difficult to maintain as air and moisture would
enter the refrigerant boundary in portions of the
system that operated in a vacuum. CFC-11
chillers were replaced with CFC-114 (of which
some maintenance issues remained) and use of
LiBr was discontinued.
Thus far, hydrochlorofluoroolefin (HCFO)
1224yd(Z), HCFO-1233zd(E) and HFO-
1336mzz(E) appear to be most promising low-
pressure refrigerants for the Navy. The same
methodology used by the PHA for the medium
pressure low GWP refrigerants will be extended
in a future effort to evaluate these low-pressure,
low-GWP refrigerants candidates.
However, quick check of these lower pressure
refrigerants indicates a likely increase in
volumetric requirements, potentially resulting in
a larger chiller when normalized for volume per
cooling ton, if current design practices are
applied. But advanced heat exchanger designs
such as falling film combined with computation
fluid dynamic modeling offer opportunities for a
more compact design. Technology has
advanced and with the appropriate resources
(Academia and Industry partnerships), there is
opportunity for a reliable, efficient, and compact
military qualified low-pressure chiller. But in
practicality, Navy chillers sometimes trade space
and energy for performance, as was done with
the HESC chiller. The HESC chiller is very
efficient when seawater temperature is below
75°F, which best benefits the ship since surface
ship energy usage is highest in winter, mainly
due to electric heaters.
Furthermore, the Navy has considered for some
time electronic cooling water plants (ECWP)
delivering 68°F ‘tepid’ water or water propylene
glycol fluid for cooling power electronics. This
would be a paradigm change to ship design with
the addition of a new fluid system but could
significantly improve the ship’s cooling density
to support the advanced electronic
countermeasures and warfare systems destined
for future ships while reducing energy usage.
The power consumption of any vapor
compression chiller is driven by the cooling
requirement (the gas vapor flow rate) and the
difference in temperatures (that corresponds to
pressure) between the evaporator and condenser.
Reducing this temperature difference in half will
generally reduce energy usage in half.
Furthermore, the ECWP would operate with a
positive pressure with these low-pressure, very
low GWP candidate refrigerants, thus potentially
further improving reliability and availability.
CONCLUSIONS
The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
(HVAC) industry is in the middle of another
major refrigerant transition. However, unlike
the relatively orderly transition from ozone
depleting substances to HFCs, and the near
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universal selection of HFC-134a, the transition
to low-GWP refrigerants is far more complex.
The wide variety of alternatives, each with its
own pro’s and con’s, must be critically
evaluated for every application. Further analysis
and testing will be required to mitigate
individual risks. Some of the main findings are
specified below.
 Follow-on flammability testing is required
to ensure R-513A is acceptable in the
confined space and environmental
temperature and humidity conditions
experience within Navy ships.
 Except for the 200-ton chiller, converting
other Navy HFC-134a chillers to currently
available low GWP refrigerants will result in
loss of capacity without equipment
modifications.
 Except for the 200-ton chiller, converting
HFC-134a chillers to operate with a low
GWP refrigerant is unlikely to result in
overall reduction in equivalent carbon
dioxide emissions.
 Low pressure, very low GWP refrigerants
present a long-term solution for new designs
but not without significant technical
challenges.
 Utilization of a multitude of different
refrigerants in the Fleet presents a challenge
to supply, ship’s training and manning.
The Navy, similar to commercial industry and
other DoD agencies, is working to find safe,
effective, and practical solutions to the global
phase-down of HFCs and its corresponding
reduction of GWP. The Naval Technical
Authorities have established extraordinarily
high-quality assurance criteria for acceptable
alternatives. In the end, these standards are used
to protect high value tactical and strategic
platforms and systems whose failure could risk
National Security, result in serious injury or
death to military personnel, or have unintended
consequences to civilian populations and the
environment.
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Public Law 116-260 – Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
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and Sinks: 1990-2021, 2023
Matthew V. Frank, P.E. and Mark S. Spector,
PhD., “Investigations of Low Global Warming
Potential Alternatives in Navy Chillers”,
Advanced Machinery Technology Symposium,
July 2022
Environmental Protection Agency, Significant
New Alternatives Policy, March 2023,
https://www.epa.gov/snap/substitutes-
centrifugal-chillers
Piotr A. Domanski and Mark O. McLinden,
“Low-GWP Non-Flammable Alternative
Refrigerant Blends for HFC-134a: Final
Report”, Strategic Environmental Research and
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January 2023
OPNAV M-5100.23, Navy Safety and
Occupational Health Manual, June 2020
Majurin, J.A., Sorenson, E., Staats, S.J., Gilles,
W., and Kujak, S.A., “Material Compatibility
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Compatibility of Low GWP Refrigerants with
HVAC&R Materials of Construction”, AHRI
Report No. 08007-01, 2014
Lemmon, E.W., Bell, I.H., Huber, M.L.,
McLinden, M.O. NIST Standard Reference
Database 23: Reference Fluid Thermodynamic
and Transport Properties-REFPROP, Version
10.0, National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Standard Reference Data Program,
Gaithersburg, 2018
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John R. Thome, “Engineering Data Book III –
Chapter 9 - Boiling Heat Transfer on External
Surfaces”, Wolverine Tube Inc., 2006 Revision
John R. Thome, “Engineering Data Book III –
Chapter 7 - Condensation on External Surfaces”,
Wolverine Tube Inc., 2006 Revision
Mark O. McLinden, J. Steven Brown, Riccardo
Brignoli, Andrei F. Kazakov and Piotr A.
Domanski, “Limited options for low-global-
warming-potential refrigerants”, Nature
Communications, February 2017
David Behringer, PhD, Felix Heydel, PhD,
Barbara Gschrey, Steffi Osterheld, Winfried
Schwarz, Kristina Warncke, Finnian Freeling,
Karsten Nodler, PhD, Stephan Henne, PhD,
Stefan Reimann, PhD, Markus Blepp, Wolfram
Jorb, Ran Liu, Sylvie Ludig, PhD, Ina
Rudenauer and Stefan Gartiser, PhD, “Persistent
degradation products of halogenated refrigerants
and blowing agents in the environment: type,
environmental concentrations, and fate with
particular regard to new halogenated substitutes
with low global warming potential”, German
Environment Agency, May 2021
American Society for Testing and Material,
Standard Practice for Determining Limits of
Flammability of Chemicals at Elevated
Temperature and Pressure ASTM E918
American Society for Testing and Material,
Standard Test Methods for Limiting Oxygen
(Oxidant) Concentration in Gases and Vapors
ASTM E2079
American National Standard for Leakage Tests
on Packages for Shipment of Radioactive
Materials, ANSI N14.5, 2022
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E., “Predicting the Pressure Driven Flow of
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to warmly thank the many
members of NAVSEA, NSWCPD, Navy &
Marine Corps Public Health Center and CACI
International who helped contribute to this
paper, with special mention to Joshua Bowman,
David New, Shanaka Abeywickrama, PE,
Daniel Berkoski, Christopher Mealy, Amy
DeLong, PhD, Russel Bizaro and Pete
Mullenhard.
AUTHORS
Matthew V. Frank, PE is a Senior Mechanical
Engineer in the Energy Conversion Research
and Development (R&D) Branch at the Naval
Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division
(NSWCPD Code 325). He is an expert in
shipboard thermal management and responsible
for conducting R&D for thermal management
and architectures. In his 30+year career, he has
been actively involved in all aspects of the
ship’s life cycle for Heating, Ventilation, AC
and Refrigeration systems, including R&D,
Ships Acquisitions, System Engineering, Fleet
Modernization, Maintenance and Logistics. He
graduated from the Pennsylvania State
University with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Mechanical Engineering and from Villanova
University with a Master’s degree in Mechanical
Engineering. He was a member of the Ozone-
Depleting Substance Elimination team
recognized by the EPA for their "exceptional
contributions to global protection" in 1996,
"Best of the Best" in 1997 and Individual/Team
Category in 2000. He is a licensed Professional
Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania, authored
over 50 publications and holds a patent.
Dr. Mark S. Spector is a Program Officer in the
Advanced Naval Platforms Division at the
Office of Naval Research where he leads a
science and technology portfolio of research
programs in thermal science, metamaterials, and
climate resiliency. In addition, he sits on the
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Department of Defense Energy and Power

Community of Interest, and the NATO Applied
Vehicle Technology Power and Propulsion
Systems Technical Committee. Previously, he
spent nine years as a Research Physicist at the
Naval Research Laboratory. He received his
Doctorate in Physics from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and Bachelor’s degrees
in Physics and Applied Mathematics from
University of California at Berkeley.

Neil Antin is currently a senior engineer with

Noblis MSD supporting NSWCPD Code 325.
He has 40+ years Navy experience as a sailor,
contractor, and civil servant with a wide range of
topics including submarine fluid systems, ocean
engineering and deep submergence systems,
precision oxygen and life support cleaning
processes, and air conditioning and refrigeration
(AC&R). He retired from federal service as the
Technical Warrant for AC&R in December
2017. He graduated from the University of
Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in
Math/Physical Science. He holds two patents
and an EPA Ozone Protection Award.

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