Background
Natural refrigerants, such as hydrocarbons (HCs), provide an important environmentally friendly alternative for the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump (RACHP) sector in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Interest in, and application of, HCs such as R290 is growing steadily as the global warming impact of refrigerants within the RACHP industry gains importance. This is particularly true within the context of the public discussion on climate change, relevant legislation, and climate targets set at international, EU, and national levels. However, it is important to keep in mind that HCs are flammable and may pose fire and explosion hazards, so if used in RACHP equipment, the likelihood and severity of the hazard should be minimised.
The EU-funded LIFE FRONT project aims to Increase the availability of climate-friendly alternatives to fluorinated gases, improve system design to address flammability risks, support the EU and internal standardization process for flammable refrigerants and to engage in technology capacity-building for EU equipment manufacturers.
Activities
LIFE FRONT produced a detailed explanation and breakdown of relevant safety standards and associated barriers related to RACHP equipment. Also, a thorough field study on leaks in RACHP equipment and subsequent laboratory tests on gas concentration development and consequences were performed.
Building on lessons learned from the field study and laboratory tests, work then focused on improving product design by making modifications to current practice to accommodate for the use of larger HC charges and by evaluating options for passive and active risk mitigation measures. Tests were implemented on a prototype each of the industrial partners of the LIFE FRONT project: AHT, AiT and NIBE. Prototypes included a commercial refrigerating cabinet, an indoor packaged air-to-water heat pump, and a ground source heat pump derived from an existing catalogue product that had been specifically designed and modified to function with R290.
Based on results, a robust and reliable methodology for evaluating the safe usage of a product using flammable refrigerants was defined.
In general, based on the work under this project and also within the wider literature, it is seen that the flammability risk presented by the use of HCs is low compared to the fire risk associated with other comparable equipment and appliances.
HEAT GmbH lead work focusing on the field & laboratory study on leak analysis and concentration development (data collection, analysis of leaks, set up of databanks, reports) and on product safety & risk assessments.
Project publications
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