Honeywell and DuPont announced a manufacturing joint venture to produce a new refrigerant for use in automotive air conditioning systems. The new refrigerant has 99.7 percent lower global warming potential (GWP) than the current refrigerant.
Under the agreement, DuPont and Honeywell will share financial and technological resources with the intent to jointly design, construct and operate a world-scale manufacturing facility for the new refrigerant, known as HFO-1234yf. The product meets European Union regulatory requirements for lower GWP refrigerants for automobile air conditioning systems. DuPont and Honeywell developed the product jointly but will market and sell it separately.
Today’s automotive air conditioners use hydrofluorocarbon HFC-134a, which has a GWP of 1430. The European Union’s Mobile Air Conditioning Directive requires that, starting in 2011, all new vehicle models use a refrigerant with a GWP below 150, and by 2017, all new automobiles sold in Europe will be required to use a low-GWP refrigerant. The new refrigerant, developed by DuPont and Honeywell, has a GWP of 4, which is 97 percent less GWP than the new regulation requires.
For more information, read the press release.
