MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Honeywell has announced investments of approximately $300 million will be made by the company and key suppliers to increase production capacity for HFO-1234yf, a new refrigerant for automobiles with a global-warming potential (GWP) of less than 1. This GWP is 99.9 percent lower than that of HFC-134a, the current refrigerant in use, and even lower than that of carbon dioxide.
Among these investments, Honeywell will construct a high-volume manufacturing plant using new process technology at the company’s existing Geismar, La., refrigerants manufacturing site, which is expected to be fully operational in 2016. The company says the exact size of the plant will depend upon supply agreements that it is putting in place with major customers.
"Demand for HFO-1234yf is increasing around the world in response to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and the need to comply with the Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive in Europe and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations in the U.S.," said Andreas Kramvis, president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. "After many years of analysis by the automotive industry, policymakers and environmental groups, it is clear that HFO-1234yf is a safe, effective and robust solution to address global warming and fuel efficiency. Honeywell’s investments will ensure adequate supply to meet growing demand.
"A significant portion of European demand for the current automobile refrigerant, HFC-134a, is currently supplied from the U.S., so our new production plant in Louisiana will mirror this arrangement," Kramvis said. "However, Honeywell is also looking at the possibility of building a plant in Europe, but this will be driven by demand and the requirements of that market."
Nearly half a million cars are on the road today using HFO-1234yf, according to Honeywell. Third-party data shows that HFO-1234yf’s widespread adoption globally would have the greenhouse gas equivalent of permanently removing more than 30 million cars from the road worldwide, or about 3 percent of the total global fleet.
Earlier this year, Honeywell announced the launch of packaging operations for HFO-1234yf in Japan to better serve the market in Asia.
