Sharc selects R513A for future heat pumps

CANADA: Heat pump manufacturer Sharc International Systems has selected Chemours’ lower GWP refrigerant Opteon XP10 (R513A) for its next generation Piranha units.

The Piranha heat pump uses a proprietary DX heat exchanger to extract thermal energy from building wastewater.

R513A is an A1 blend of R134a and R1234yf with a GWP of around 630. It has been developed to replace R134a in positive displacement, direct expansion, medium-temperature commercial and industrial fixed speed systems, chillers, and heat pumps, while providing improved energy efficiency, similar capacity, and excellent design compatibility.

“Piranha is the greenest domestic hot water production system in the world, and we need to aggressively get the GWP number lowered,” said SHARC Energy Systems’ CEO Lynn Mueller. “Opteon XP10 is the first step in our quest to get to zero.”

The Piranha wastewater heat recovery system was launched in the UK and Europe last year.

It is a self-contained system that extracts heat from a building’s wastewater and returns it at around 60ºC. It claims a a typical COP of around five.