MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Honeywell has entered into a supply agreement with Asahi Glass Company Ltd. (AGC) to increase production for HFO-1234yf, a new refrigerant for automobiles with a global warming potential (GWP) of less than 1.
AGC will manufacture HFO-1234yf in Japan, and Honeywell will market the product to customers in the U.S, Europe and Asia. Under the agreement, AGC’s production is expected to begin in mid-2015.
"Honeywell’s supply agreement with AGC will help us meet immediate demand for HFO-1234yf, which is steadily increasing in response to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and the need to comply with regulations," said Ken Gayer, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Fluorine Products. "We continue to work with our customers to anticipate long-term demand, which will be met by a new high-volume manufacturing plant we will build in Geismar, La. Manufacturing locations in both the U.S. and Asia will provide automotive customers with improved supply chain reliability and security."
Last month, Honeywell announced that the company and its suppliers would invest about $300 million to increase capacity for HFO-1234yf, including building a new manufacturing plant for the refrigerant at Honeywell’s existing Geismar location. The plant will use new process technology and is expected to be fully operational in 2016. The exact size of the plant will depend on supply agreements that Honeywell is putting in place with major customers.
HFO-1234yf is being implemented by automakers in part to meet the EU MAC Directive, a landmark piece of legislation that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of air-conditioning systems in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The directive requires that refrigerants in all new vehicle types sold in Europe after Jan. 1, 2013, have a global-warming potential (GWP) below 150. All cars sold in Europe after 2017 must meet the new GWP requirement of less than 150. HFO-1234yf, with a GWP below 1, not only meets this requirement but is more than 99 percent below the new, stricter regulation.
Automakers in the U.S. also are adopting HFO-1234yf to help comply with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and vehicle greenhouse gas standards, which aim to improve the average fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with cars and light trucks. Because HFO-1234yf has an extremely low environmental impact (a GWP of less than 1 compared with a GWP of 1,300 for the current refrigerant, HFC-134a), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows automakers to receive credits for using HFO-1234yf.
According to Honeywell, nearly half a million cars are on the road today safely using HFO-1234yf, and by the end of 2014, the number of vehicles is expected to exceed 2 million. 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.
