AHRI to begin lower-GWP refrigerant research

USA: The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) has announced an industry-wide cooperative research programme to identify and evaluate promising alternative refrigerants with a GWP under 300.

While news of new refrigerant alternatives have largely dropped from the headlines of late, new blends continue to be assigned ASHRAE numbers on a regular basis. The latest ASHRAE update on new refrigerants designations and safety classifications contains over 100 zoetropic blends and eight azeotropes.

The AHRI’s insists its new Alternative Refrigerants Evaluation Programme (AREP) is in response to the introduction of the new low GWP refrigerants that have not yet had the benefit of independent evaluation.

This will be the AHRI’s third such research programme: it successfully managed the original R22 AREP in the 1990s and oversaw the work of AREP-2 in the 2010s in response to environmental concerns related to high-GWP refrigerants. As with previous efforts, AHRI says it will provide the leadership to coordinate and manage this industry-driven research and work closely with industry experts from its member companies.

“The objective of this program is to help the industry identify and evaluate the most promising refrigerants, as well as to understand the technical challenges of enabling their use,” said AHRI vice president of research Xudong Wang. “The programme will not rank these alternatives, but will instead focus on identifying potential replacements for current refrigerants that will allow the industry to meet and comply with future regulatory activities in the United States and abroad.”

To begin, the Lower-GWP AREP will survey chemical producers to create a list of candidate refrigerants. Those that are selected will undergo comprehensive testing, including compressor calorimeter testing, system drop-in testing (if applicable), and soft-optimised system testing. Refrigerant stability and compatibility with lubricants and other common materials will also be tested, if necessary. 

Tests are expected to be performed at participating companies’ laboratories, using their own resources, at their own expense.

The programme will be overseen by a technical committee consisting of experts from AHRI member companies, operating under the AHRI Research and Technology Committee. The technical committee will be responsible for developing detailed test protocols prior to the start of the programme, prioritising tasks if refrigerant samples have limited availability, and ensuring the quality of the results to be published. 

Once the technical committee roster is finalised, US and foreign manufacturers will be invited to participate in the testing, which is expected to begin in January 2026.