90 % of refrigeration service companies, distributors and operators of refrigeration systems surveyed by DuPont  at the end of 2009/ start of 2010 consider the future availability of reclaimed R22 to be “insufficient” or “acutely insufficient” to meet actual market needs.  In order to avoid emergency situations such as the outage or shutdown of cooling systems, 64% of refrigeration service companies involved in the survey advise a swift course of action and – if appropriate to the system – a conversion to non-ozone-depleting refrigerants such as one of those from the range of DuPont™ ISCEON^® 9 Series refrigerants. This is based on their experience of ISCEON^® as a straightforward and cost-effective solution. In the German-speaking region alone, these service companies have already converted more than 2,000 systems from a range of sectors to these refrigerants. 

The reason for DuPont’s wide-ranging survey in Germany, Austria and Switzerland was the service ban on HCFC refrigerants (in particular R22) which, as part of the EU Regulation EC1005/2009, has been in effect since 1 January 2010. It means that, until the end of 2014, only reclaimed R22 may be purchased for use in the servicing and maintenance of air-conditioning and cooling systems, ahead of the refrigerant’s general exclusion as of 1 January 2015.  However, according to experts, the demand for reclaimed R22 will considerably exceed supply.  “The return of R22 refrigerant suitable for reclamation is too low to meet the levels of demand expected for the coming years,” summarises Dr. Jeanette Musick, refrigerant sales manager at TEGA – Technische Gase und Gastechnik, in Würzburg, Germany. “The whole situation is like a game of poker,” is how Gerhard Menapace, service manager at Carrier Kältetechnik Austria GmbH summarises the overall situation.

One of the most commonly named benefits of a conversion to non-ozone-depleting refrigerants such as those belonging to the ISCEON^® 9 Series is that existing cooling systems can continue to be used until the end of their lifetime without the need for costly additional investment and rebuilding. Moreover, the work required for the conversion can often be carried out during normal business operations. This is confirmed by Alberto Landucci, from the energy management department at Telecom Italia in Rome, which tested alternative refrigerants over a period of two years: “The entire conversion of two pilot units took less than two hours – this is ideal from a cost and effort point of view.” Ralf Hoss, service project manager confirms this at Cofely Refrigeration GmbH, Augsburg, and summarises the benefits as follows: “The quickest and most cost-effective solution, involving the lowest potential loss of performance and reducing the risk of coming under time pressure and thereby endangering production.”

In terms of their cooling performance, ISCEON^® solutions are comparable to R22. According to Olaf Mey, service product manager at Carrier Kältetechnik Deutschland GmbH, a service company which has converted more than 1,200 units from a range of installations to DuPont refrigerants, any theoretical falls in cooling performance of 14 % during normal refrigeration, and 5% during freezing, have not been observed in practice. Similarly, those companies involved in the survey confirmed that there have been no significant differences to R22 during long-term operations. Energy consumption has either remained the same, or, in a few cases, it has even fallen following conversion. 

According to leading refrigerant distributors such as TEGA – Technische Gase und Kältetechnik, Westfalen AG, Schick GmbH & Co. KG, Agatex Feinchemie GmbH and Linde Österreich, demand for ISCEON^® has grown considerably over the last three years. They expect a further increase in demand during 2010 and 2011. However, supply shortages of these alternative refrigerants are not expected. “Based on current order volumes, sufficient amounts of ISCEON^® refrigerant are available to meet demand,” concludes Joachim Gerstel, growth programs manager EMEA at DuPont Refrigerants.

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