BITZER refrigerant recommendations for the EU

Use long-term available refrigerants

Refrigerants that shall be available in large amounts for widely used applications will have to fit into a sustainable economic system and have an environmental impact that is as low as possible (Long-term available refrigerants).

Existing systems and installations

According to our information, the revision of the F-Gas Regulation and the control of PFAS via the REACH Regulation will both allow operation of existing systems incl. maintenance with F-gases for about 10 .. 15 years. There might be limits for the GWP, and certainly the available amounts of fluorinated refrigerants are limited, due to very low targeted emission quotas.
Conversion or retrofit of existing systems to refrigerants of the lowest possible GWP is strongly recommended, if technically and economically feasible.

New systems and installations

Wherever possible, new systems shall be designed to operate with long-term available refrigerants.
Where this is not possible, due to local regulations or missing skilled technicians, low GWP refrigerants with GWP < 10 should be chosen. If this also is not possible, a GWP value < 150 should be the limit, as even this can be considered too high for covering all new systems with regard to the proposed phase-down steps after 2030.
If the system can be designed for or operated with a refrigerant of safety class A2L, the pressure equipment is already prepared for safety class A3, e.g. hydrocarbons. Developments of safety standards, national and local regulations, or technical developments might allow more use of refrigerants of safety class A3 some years from now.
A retrofit of our semi-hermetic compressors to A3 hydrocarbons will often be possible.

Outside the EU

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol also contains phase-down plans for F-gas emissions like the EU F-Gas Regulation, but with a delayed timeline depending on country groups. Shortened timelines can be decided by individual countries and supported by funding from the Multilateral Fund.