Transitioning to Natural Refrigerants: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions
Transitioning to Natural Refrigerants: Make The Change
There’s never been a better time to say goodbye to planet-harming synthetics
January 1, 2025, was a significant date for the refrigeration and cooling sector in the US. In accordance with the EPA’s Technology Transitions Program, it was the day on which the manufacture and import of products containing a range of common hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants were outlawed. From January 1 next year, the same restrictions will apply to the sale, distribution and export of those products. The restricted HFCs include R134a, R404A and R410A.
HFCs are the most commonly used synthetic refrigerants globally, but they come with a huge environmental cost. While they don’t harm the ozone layer like the chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons that preceded them, they are greenhouse gases that are hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of their global warming potential (GWP).
A recently developed synthetic alternative to HFCs is hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), which have only 0.1% of the GWP of HFCs. However, both HFCs and HFOs produce trifluoroacetic acid as they degrade, which many scientists believe is harmful to the environment, marine life and humans.
The Technology Transitions Program is aligned with the 2020 Aim Act, which has targeted phasing down production and use of HFCs in the US by a massive 85% by 2036. And it’s impossible to rule out further, more stringent regulations regarding HFCs before that date. That means solutions using lower GWP HFCs – or indeed any other synthetic refrigerants – run the risk of becoming stranded assets needing costly replacement.
And regulation is not the only threat to synthetic refrigerants. Environmental concerns are also a major factor – for both companies and their customers. Firms are increasingly making ESG a priority, and the use of natural refrigerants can play a significant role in meeting sustainability goals and environmental standards. Meanwhile, consumers are often voting with their feet in choosing eco-friendly options in their purchases. The financial sector is playing a growing role in the transition to natural refrigerants, too, as both lending and investment decisions increasingly take environmental factors into account.
The world is transitioning to natural refrigerants
For some time, the use of natural alternatives to synthetics has been gathering pace, and the refrigerant transition has now reached a tipping point. Marc Chasserot, Founder and CEO of ATMOsphere, an independent market accelerator for clean cooling, has declared the 2020s to be “the decade of natural refrigerants”, as they become the dominant force across multiple sectors.
Natural refrigerants avoid all of the pitfalls associated with synthetics. They produce either negligible or no greenhouse emissions, offer no environmental risks and are future-proofed against regulation and costly refits. Advances in technology are also making systems using natural refrigerants more competitive in terms of cost compared to those using synthetics. In an increasing number of cases, particularly in large ammonia installations, natural refrigerants now prove cheaper. This is another factor driving their growth.
At Güntner, we have been developing energy-efficient products using natural refrigerants for many years, and we were one of the first recipients of the ATMOsphere label, a stamp of approval for best-in-class manufacturers of solutions using natural refrigerants. We also have our own state-of-the-art lab for CO₂ and ammonia solutions, where we carry out testing, research and development, enabling us to deliver trustworthy and reliable application data. Already half of the products we sell are for use with natural refrigerants, and the proportion is increasing rapidly.
Natural refrigerant challenges and solutions
Customers who have made the switch to natural refrigerants often tell us about the benefits. Those in industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and data centers in particular sing the praises of not just the environmental advantages but also the increased efficiency that comes with the refrigerant transition, leading to better heating and cooling performance.
There is also a long-term cost saving. Although initial costs can be higher than those associated with synthetics, natural refrigerants can ultimately lead to significant savings through both energy efficiency and reduced regulatory compliance costs. In some states, funding programs are available to help offset the costs of refrigerant changeover to alternatives such as CO₂, propane and ammonia.
Naturally, you may have initial worries. Is your existing system compatible with natural refrigerants? Are there safety concerns that need to be addressed, such as flammability, toxicity, and pressure-related issues? Are the initial costs of a system upgrade or replacement going to prove problematic?
We can assist you in overcoming these challenges. Our experts can help you with detailed planning and implementation of the necessary modifications you may need to make to your system to ensure compatibility. We can inform you of safety protocols and advanced detection systems that can be incorporated to mitigate risks and inform you of best practices for using natural refrigerants safely and effectively. And based on our considerable experience, we can highlight the long-term savings and potential incentives associated with adopting eco-friendly options.
And there’s more. All of Güntner’s state-of-the-art products for refrigeration systems are designed for use with natural refrigerants, and we’ll help you choose those that are most suitable for your needs. After they’re installed, we’ll provide ongoing maintenance and support to ensure smooth operation and compliance going forward.
“Natural refrigerants just make sense”
All over the world, Güntner is helping customers transition to a range of environmentally friendly refrigerants.
Carbon dioxide, which is both non-toxic and non-flammable, is increasingly being used in a wide variety of settings, from supermarkets to large-scale refrigeration plants. From an efficiency standpoint, CO₂ cooling systems offer superior energy efficiency, which reduces operational expenses. These systems are also able to recover waste heat effectively, and this can then be repurposed for heating spaces and water within a site, enhancing overall energy utilization.
When Japanese company Benirei Logistics decided to retrofit its cold storage warehouse in Osaka, it replaced a system using the harmful R22 HCFC refrigerant with CO₂. The new system uses Güntner’s V-shape COMPACT Gas Cooler
together with our hydroBLU™ adiabatic technology. “We chose Güntner because of their quality products and extensive track record of delivering CO₂ dry coolers globally,” said Gaku Shimada, General Manager at Panasonic, who provided the condensing rack.
Climate-friendly ammonia has a GWP of 0 and is widely used for food storage cooling systems. At grape producer Agrivale’s cold store chamber in Brazil’s São Francisco River Valley, an 18-year-old ammonia cooling system was retrofitted using six Güntner Cubic VARIO Air Coolers. These use less ammonia than the previous heat exchangers and are also lighter and more compact. “We were impressed by the ease of installation, with everything planned in advance and allowing the use of the existing structure without any additional interventions,” Ramon Barbosa, Operational General Manager at Agrivale, told us.
Propane not only has negligible GWP but is also considerably more energy efficient than the most common HFC refrigerants. It was used as the refrigerant for two Güntner V-shape VARIO Dry Coolers at a new data center in Innsbruck, Austria. It’s a sign of the changing times in which we live that construction company Streit-TGA only uses natural refrigerants in its projects. “Using natural refrigerants just makes sense,” said Alexander Streit, Managing Partner at the company. “As well as the environmental benefits, we can achieve the same scope in our projects but with greater efficiencies and lower costs for our customers.”
Is it time you made the switch? We can help.