World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Wilhelmsen finds success with R407F

46839574_m

NORWAY: Leading global maritime industry group Wilhelmsen is backing the lower GWP refrigerant R407F as a compatible mixture in existing R404A systems.

Writing on the company’s website, Wilhelmsen’s technical product manager, refrigerants and refrigeration, Svenn Jacobsen said: “With the phase out of R404A refrigerant now gathering pace, due to its sky-high global warming potential (GWP), the search for an environmentally friendly alternative is more pressing than ever.

“We believe that we have discovered an ideal low cost replacement, and it has actually been available all along.”

Tests carried out at Wilhelmsen’s Singapore facility on mixtures of R404A/R407F are said to have convinced him that R407F offers almost identical performance to R404A and benefits from using the same type of oil.

Sold by Honeywell as Performax LT, R407F has a GWP of 1824. While still high, it is a considerable improvement on R404A’s GWP of 3922.

Although confident the refrigerant would work, Svenn Jacobsen admits to being taken aback by results of the company’s tests.

“Finding that we could add R407F to a system running on R404A with no loss of performance, or compatibility issues when it comes to the compressor, evaporator or condenser, was a very pleasant surprise,” he writes.

“Tried and tested in both an AC and low temperature system, R407F also dispenses with the expensive and time-consuming need to recover the existing R404A. So it’s a win, win for owners,” he adds.

With an onboard system typically using 300-400kg of refrigerant, Jacobsen estimates that the removal and recovery of R404A and replacement with a complete charge of R407F could be as high as $16,000.

“Factor in the destruction of the original gas and the time to recover, vacuum and re-charge the system, along with the hassle of cylinder handling and the proven compatibility of R407F becomes even more valuable,” he adds.

Jacobsen maintains that adding R407F to a system running R404A would be permissible by all flag states, except the USA, where the mixing of refrigerants is forbidden.

However, additional paperwork would be required when mixing gases. Several countries require that the refrigerant type used in a system must be stated on the nameplate. This includes stating the original refrigerant and initial charge, the amount of new refrigerant added to the system, and a logbook kept and updated to verify the amount of R407F added.

More information here.

Latest News

18th March 2024

Joint venture adopts Epta brand

ITALY: All activities under the recently announced Epta and Viessmann Refrigeration joint venture are to operate under the Epta brand.
18th March 2024

Low carbon heat briefing

UK: The SIRACH network is hosting a half-day briefing at London’s iconic Shard to share the findings of the Lot-Net project. 
18th March 2024

UK heat pump uptake too slow

UK: The UK must achieve an eleven-fold increase in heat pump installations if it is to hit government targets of 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028.
18th March 2024

Refrigeration’s star engineer Forbes Pearson dies

UK: Stephen Forbes Pearson, co-founder of Star Refrigeration and one of the world's greatest refrigeration engineers, has died at the age of 92.
17th March 2024

132 Güntner dry coolers for Red Sea project

SAUDI ARABIA: German manufacturer Güntner has supplied 132 dry coolers, each with 18 fans, to a 32,500TR district cooling project in Saudi Arabia.
17th March 2024

NZ professor brings fridge workshops to UK

UK: Don Cleland, a professor of process engineering at Massey University in New Zealand, is hosting a series of refrigeration workshops in London this summer.