Adapting to the ever-changing future and leading the low-carbon direction - Honeywell HFO Refrigerant Special Dialogue

The 34th International Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Heating, and Ventilator Video Refrigeration Processing Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as 2023 China Refrigeration Exhibition), with the theme of "Focusing on Global Cooling and Heating and Devoting to System Innovation", was held grandly at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from April 7th to 9th, 2023. As a leading supplier of low-carbon innovative technologies and solutions, Honeywell has presented a series of mature environmentally friendly refrigerant solutions at the exhibition, and held the "Honeywell Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Refrigerant Solutions Seminar" during the exhibition to interpret the latest global refrigerant regulations, explore the application of refrigeration solutions in different fields such as HVAC, high-temperature heat pumps, industrial and commercial refrigeration, and electronic cooling, as well as related environmental protection and energy conservation Alternative solutions, product cost-effectiveness, and other topics.

As the largest producer and consumer of HFCs refrigerants at present, after the Kigali Amendment came into effect in China in September 2021, the process of reducing HFCs refrigerants and whether HFO can become an ideal solution for refrigerant substitution in the future have become important topics of concern for the industry. After the seminar, Zhang Li, Vice President and Asia Pacific General Manager of Honeywell High Performance Materials, Li Baogang, General Manager of Honeywell High Performance Materials Asia Pacific Fluorine Product Business, and Ryan Hulse, Senior R&D Director of Honeywell High Performance Materials, were interviewed by the media on the application status and development trends, opportunities and challenges of high-efficiency environmentally friendly refrigerants Detailed discussions and answers were provided on hot topics such as innovation exploration in other fields.

After the signing of the Kigali Amendment, the goal of reducing HFCs has been clarified, and HFO has become an ideal solution for replacing HFCs as refrigerants. In Honeywell's view, what is the current situation of HFO refrigerant landing in the Chinese market?

Li Baogang: With the increasingly severe issue of climate change, the international community has listed "carbon reduction" as a key focus of national development. Currently, much attention is being paid to carbon dioxide reduction in the production process of heavy industries such as electricity, coal mines, and cement. At the same time, attention is gradually increasing to the "greenhouse effect" of daily chemicals such as refrigeration and air conditioning. The establishment of the "dual carbon" goal and the official entry into force of the Kigali Amendment in China in 2021 have brought new requirements and opportunities for many domestic customers to actively seek reliable solutions for reducing emissions of hydrofluorocarbons.

As a leading supplier of low-carbon innovative technologies and solutions, Honeywell foresaw more than a decade ago that the market needed solutions with lower global warming potential to help countries cope with climate change, and has invested $1 billion in the research and development of HFO technology and expansion of production capacity. Honeywell has successively launched a rich range of HFO monomer products and hybrid products with HFO as the main component in the Chinese market. Compared to existing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), these products have significantly reduced carbon emissions during their lifecycle. We encourage the refrigeration and air conditioning industry to switch from HFCs to HFO products in advance, helping China achieve its "dual carbon" goals as soon as possible. Specific products include:

Solstice for screw and centrifugal chillers ® zd（R1233zd）、Solstice ® Ze (R1234ze), replacing traditional R134a, R123, and R22;

Solstice for small refrigeration equipment and automotive air conditioning ® Yf (R1234yf), replacing traditional R134a;

Solstice applied in the field of electronic cooling ® zd（R1233zd）、Solstice ® Ze (R1234ze) and Solstice ® N15 (R515B), replacing traditional R245fa and R134a;

Solstice for commercial and industrial refrigeration applications ® N40 (R448A), replacing traditional R22, R404A, and R507A;

Solstice applied to high-temperature heat pumps ® ze（R1234ze）、Solstice ® N15 (R515B) and Solstice ® Zd (R1233zd), replacing traditional R134a and R245fa;

Solstice applied in the field of light business and computer room air conditioning ® N41 R466A, replacing the traditional R410A.

As the inventor of the fourth generation HFO, Honeywell is also committed to promoting the application of HFO refrigerants in China. In April 2022, Sinopharm Holdings Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Sinopharm), a subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group, announced the use of Honeywell's mature and environmentally friendly refrigerant Solstice in its vaccine cold storage expansion project in Shanghai ® N40 (R-448A) to store various vaccines for use in Shanghai, including COVID-19 vaccine; In May and July of the same year, NIO and Volvo announced the use of mature ultra-low global warming potential HFO-1234yf refrigerants provided by Honeywell on several new models in the Chinese domestic market, promoting greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the automotive industry. Taking Honeywell's mature ultra-low global warming potential HFO-1234yf refrigerant used by companies such as NIO and Volvo Cars in China as an example, its global warming potential is 99.9% lower than traditional hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants. In other fields, many customers and partners are gradually paying attention to the development of HFO. Overall, HFO refrigerants are still in the early stages of promotion in China and have enormous development potential.

What are the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry and enterprises in the promotion and implementation of HFO refrigerants in China?

Zhang Li: The establishment of the "dual carbon" goal and the official entry into force of the Kigali Amendment in China in 2021 have brought new requirements and opportunities for many domestic customers to actively seek reliable solutions for reducing emissions of hydrofluorocarbons. The 14th Five Year Plan period is a critical period for the transformation of China's refrigerant industry, facing the reduction of hydrofluorocarbons and the large-scale commercialization of new generation HFO refrigerants. Although China has not yet established mandatory regulations to regulate the use of HFO products by enterprises, there are still many companies in the industry expressing interest in HFO technology and adopting it spontaneously. Especially in the automotive industry, using HFO products to replace hydrofluorocarbons has become a hot topic, making it possible to replace advanced regulations.

At the same time, China still faces some challenges in promoting new environmental protection technologies. Firstly, it is difficult to break through the technical barriers of environmentally friendly refrigerants, and the entire application supporting and ecological system is still in the process of improvement, which hinders large-scale promotion; Secondly, the cost of promoting environmentally friendly refrigerants is relatively high, which will increase the cost of using refrigerants and other enterprises, leading to insufficient power for enterprises to replace clean refrigerants. We hope to help the industry establish an ecosystem as soon as possible and promote the implementation of HFO refrigerants in China through the release of the white paper "Adapting to the ever-changing future and leading the low-carbon direction - Frontier Applications of Environmentally Friendly Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs)".

The attention to the fourth generation HFO refrigerant is increasing, and domestic refrigerant companies are also actively deploying. In what areas does Honeywell have a first mover advantage or subsequent layout?

Zhang Li: China is the country with the largest global fluoride consumption, and more than half of the world's fluoride products are produced in China. The production capacity construction of the fourth generation refrigerant in China is very important, whether it is for China to transition from the third generation refrigerant to the fourth generation refrigerant, or to consolidate China's identity as the world's largest fluorine chemical production country.

For a long time, Honeywell has been committed to providing customers with innovative technologies and solutions oriented towards positive ESG results. In the refrigeration industry, HFO technology is an important innovative technology lever for Honeywell to promote sustainable development. Therefore, Honeywell is actively promoting the construction of demonstration projects with HFO technology as the core in China. By constructing demonstration projects, Chinese partners have the opportunity to feel the positive role of HFO as a new technology in energy conservation, emission reduction, and energy efficiency improvement, thereby achieving further promotion and application of HFO technology and products in China and accelerating the low-carbon transformation.

Li Baogang: Whether it's Honeywell or other companies, the application of the fourth generation refrigerant is of great significance for China's energy conservation and emission reduction. In fact, many years ago, domestic companies had already reached cooperation with Honeywell on the fourth generation refrigerant, and we are now actively deepening our cooperation with local partners. Compared to other enterprises, Honeywell's advantage lies first in its technical expertise. From the development and application of single refrigerant fourth generation refrigerants to mixed fourth generation refrigerants, Honeywell's research and understanding are very in-depth. Meanwhile, as a global enterprise, Honeywell continuously brings its mature experience in the global market to China, which is also a unique advantage.

What effective promotion methods does Honeywell have to expand the application range and usage of the new generation of HFO refrigerants in the face of the successive emergence of different types of refrigerants?

Zhang Li: In order to help the industry quickly understand the performance and advantages of Honeywell's mature HFO refrigerants, Honeywell will actively promote Honeywell's products to the industry through the platform of relevant application associations. Honeywell and leading companies in downstream segmented applications conduct regulatory analysis, technical exchange, and other work, and select representative scenarios for product performance evaluation with third-party institutions such as design institutes and industry associations. We hope that Honeywell's products can provide good options for the industry to choose refrigerants based on real cases and data, integrate them into the standards of various industries, and provide good solutions for the implementation of low-carbon, environmental protection, and emission reduction in the country.

For example, on April 6th, Honeywell officially released a white paper titled "Adapting to the Changing Future and Leading the Low Carbon Direction - Frontier Applications of Environmentally Friendly Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs)" at the Third International Refrigeration Society Conference on Hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) Refrigerants and Low Global Variable Potential Products, focusing on fluorochemicals widely used in various industrial and livelihood industries, as well as the carbon reduction applications of HFO technology in multiple consumer industries, Provide development ideas and innovative technical guidance for reducing fluoride containing greenhouse gas emissions.

The fourth generation HFO refrigerant products currently in use do not have a unified name in the industry, and there are diverse characteristics in the same application. Is there a unified trend in the future?

Li Baogang: Currently, there are two names for the fourth generation HFO refrigerant. The first is the working fluid number of ASHARE, and each company has its own brand number. For example, Honeywell's mature fourth generation HFO refrigerant products have a globally unified official refrigerant number (ASHRAE-34 standard), and the brand name of the fourth generation product is Solstice ®。 Afterwards, all items starting with N are non combustible, such as Solstice ® N40 represents non combustible, while L represents weakly combustible. (It is worth noting that flammability is an important safety indicator in refrigerant replacement and may become one of the core factors determining whether the product can become an ideal substitute for segmented applications.) Any new product, whether it is a single working fluid or a mixture, must obtain approval from ASHARE before it can have a working fluid number. So the working fluid number is basically unified.

In recent years, the electric vehicle industry has flourished in China, and Honeywell's Solstice yf is undoubtedly a very mature technology solution. However, we have also found that both academia and industry have been evaluating some new technology solutions, such as carbon dioxide, R290, etc. How does Honeywell view this trend of competition? Will Honeywell continue to launch better technology solutions suitable for electric vehicles in the future?

Ryan Hulse: As a leading international refrigerant solution provider, Honeywell evaluates all feasible refrigerant technology solutions. We believe that among all technical solutions, including Solstice yf, R152a, carbon dioxide, and R290, Solstice yf has outstanding performance. Even under low-temperature heating and cooling conditions, Solstice yf has excellent comprehensive performance.

Traditional automotive companies and equipment manufacturers prefer refrigerants with a single working fluid, so Solstice yf can also help them do what they excel at. Meanwhile, Honeywell is actively collaborating with academia and equipment manufacturers to improve the heating performance of Solstice yf under extremely low temperature conditions. Our research results indicate that Solstice yf can maintain good heating performance even under extremely low temperature conditions after systematic optimization. At present, we are collaborating with almost all mainstream electric vehicle manufacturers, who are also actively evaluating Solstice yf, and some have even completed the evaluation. From the results, it can be seen that the performance of Solstice yf can well meet their needs.

Honeywell has excellent technical solutions in many mature refrigeration applications. Will it continue to launch new technical solutions in any emerging fields in the future?

Ryan Hulse: Honeywell currently has two emerging areas of focus. The first is the growing demand for heat dissipation technology in the semiconductor industry, as both chips and other electrical components, as well as servers and data centers, require new technologies for heat dissipation due to their increasing heat output. The second area is electric vehicles. In traditional fuel vehicles, we only need to cool or heat the cockpit, but electric vehicles require overall thermal management of the cockpit, battery, and even the entire three electrical systems, requiring new technological solutions. Honeywell is developing new technical solutions in both areas to help customers meet current challenges.

What is Honeywell's forecast for the development of China's domestic refrigeration industry market this year and even in the past three to five years? What are the plans for the company's future development in the refrigeration industry?

Zhang Li: In Honeywell's view, with the vigorous development of the Chinese economy, the refrigeration industry will also face greater opportunities. Honeywell and the Chinese market have gone through the transformation process of refrigerants from the second generation to the third generation, and now they will actively participate in the upgrade from the third generation to the fourth generation. Both the fluorine chemical business and Honeywell's overall strategy are closely related to sustainable development.

For a long time, Honeywell has provided customers with innovative technologies and solutions guided by positive ESG results. About 60% of the company's new product development is based on improving customers' environmental performance and social benefits. In the refrigeration industry, HFO technology is an important innovative technology lever for Honeywell to promote sustainable development.

In recent years, Honeywell's achievements in collaborating with Chinese companies in the field of HFO technology have proven that Honeywell has taken the forefront in leading the sustainable development of the industry. Facing the future, Honeywell will continue to use technological innovation as the core driving force for future development, continuously develop products and technologies that meet customer energy and environmental needs, continue to promote the application of HFO technology in relevant industries in China, actively respond to the Kigali Amendment and China's "dual carbon" goals, assist Chinese partners in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, improving environmental benefits, and jointly shape a sustainable future.

It is not difficult to see from the themes of refrigeration exhibitions and industry discussions in recent years that future refrigerant substitutes will receive high attention for a long time. HFO refrigerant, as a fourth generation product widely used in developed countries, has been widely commercially validated in the market. Although the popularity of HFO refrigerants in domestic production and use is relatively low in the short term, in the face of the constantly advancing trend of substitution