Optfor better

Win with Opteon™ XL40and savour the sweet
success of meeting yourcold chain operationneeds while remaining
sustainable in an F-Gasworld.

Park Cakes Ltd. has opted for Opteon™ XL40
instead of R-404A for its new logistics andstorage facility at its production site of Oldham,
UK. It is the first commercial installation ofOpteon™ XL40, a very low global warming potential(GWP) HFO-based refrigerant blend technology.
This successful implementation is the result ofa close collaboration between Chemours andDawsonrentals temperature control solutions, aUK-based supplier of cold storage solutions fortemperature-critical products. It demonstrates how
the use of ground-breaking, innovative technology
can help companies like Park Cakes Ltd. install
new equipment to meet the needs of Cold Chain
operators under the F-Gas Regulation in Europeand serves as a great example of how to avoid thepitfalls that come with continued use of high GWPlegacy HFCs.

Park Cakes’ new cold storage facility in Oldham, UK.

EU regulations and tighter
quotasWithin the European Union, under the EU
regulation 517/2014 since January 1, 2015,high GWP refrigerants have come under severepressure due to the phase down of HFC-quota
available for placing products on the EU market.
This has led to reduced availability of products
such as R-404A, R-410A, R-407C and even
R-134a. End-users are therefore seeking
alternative refrigerants with a low GWP.
A number of options exist:• Carbon Dioxide – considerable development
costs are necessary and limited equipment isavailable. Equipment does exist but the cost issignificantly higher than fluorocarbon-based
refrigerant technology and the performance andreliability has yet to be proven for this type ofapplication.
• Hydrocarbons – already widely used but there
are charge limitations, and costly requirements
must be taken to ensure their safe use as they
are ASHRAE flammability Class 3 (i.e. highlyflammable).

2• Use an alternative, low GWP fluorinatedrefrigerant – Chemours has developed a very
low GWP (239) HFO-based blend for use in nonhermetic equipment. Opteon™ XL40 is intended
for use in specifically designed new equipment
and although it has the ASHRAE flammability
classification 2L, it can be safely used asspecified within the EN378 standard publishedin 2016.
With the significant major reduction in HFC quota
in 2018 and beyond, and the ban on servicing
and installing equipment with refrigerants of
GWP >2500 from 2020, industry needs tried
and tested solutions to help meet the European
climate objectives. In the short term, some quick
and easy solutions are already available suchas Opteon™ XP40 (R-449A) A1 HFO blend fromChemours. However, in the longer term as quota
becomes even tighter, there will be a need formuch lower GWP solutions, the chemistry of whichbrings in the need to use flammable refrigerants.
Products such as Opteon™ XL40 (R-454A) fromChemours allows end users to reduce the risk ofusing flammables as they are A2L class and only
mildly flammable.

Innovation at Chemours
Since 2011, Chemours has been working todevelop low GWP HFO blends based on HFO1234yf. The first products brought to market
were non-flammable blends designed to replacelegacy HFCs in existing equipment. Productssuch as Opteon™ XP40 (R-449A) are now wellestablished in the market with widespread use.
At Chillventa 2016, Chemours launched theOpteon™ XL range of very low GWP HFO blends
for use in new equipment for refrigeration andair conditioning. Following recent publication ofEN378 in 2016, there is now clear guidanceon using mildly flammable A2L class products.
Opteon™ XL40 (R-454A) is one such productand is a blend of R-32/R-1234yf (35% / 65%)
designed to replace R-404A in new equipment
for refrigeration applications such as condensing
units.

Opteon™ XL40 characteristics
ASHRAE NumberR-454A

GWP (AR4)

239

Boiling point-48.3°C

Safety classification

A2L

Temperature glide~ 5K

Long-term replacement for
R-404A
Dawsonrentals introduced the concept of mobile
cold stores in Europe and now offers more than
2,500 mobile cold rooms, industrial freezers,
blast chillers and tempering units for rent, making
Dawsonrentals the market leader in renting
cold storage solutions. Many of these units use
R-404A as the refrigerant, which was chosenwhen there was a need to move away from R-22
following the ban on ozone depleting substances.
Dawsonrentals was looking for a long-term
replacement for R-404A for its new installations
and had been working with Chemours on thenew A2L blends at its site in Sutton-in-Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire. The tests showed thatOpteon™ XL40 (R-454A) was an ideal replacementfor R-404A in many of the applications. Existing
equipment designs could be used with only minor
modifications to take into account the use of A2L
fluids following the guidance in the new EN 378
standard.
Following the commercial launch of Opteon™ XL40,
Dawsonrentals planned an introduction with oneof its newest projects in the UK, at Park Cakes ‘production site in Oldham.

Environmental benefitInstallation at Park Cakes

The GWP of Opteon™ XL40 is only 239 comparedto R-404A at 3922. This represents a reductionin GWP of 94%. In addition, the HFO blend has
been developed to ensure that, while having acapacity similar to R-404A, its C.O.P. is better inboth medium and low temperature applications.
This means that the overall carbon footprint ofXL40 is reduced from both a direct (potentialleakage) and indirect (energy used to run thesystem) standpoint. Opteon™ XL40 is expected tobe sustainable with respect to the F-Gas phasedown and is therefore a good choice to replace
R-404A / R-507A in refrigeration equipmentthat can meet the EN378 standard safety
requirements.

Park Cakes Ltd., the subject of a recent highprofile management buyout and a leading supplierof premium private label cakes and desserts in theUK, is a very environmentally aware company that
supplies its products to a number of high profile
retailers who also have high expectations when it
comes to environmental sustainability. With thisin mind, when Park Cakes was looking to installa new low temperature cold store, the companyasked its equipment supplier, Dawsonrentals, topropose a low GWP option for the refrigeration
system.
Dawsonrentals had been in contact with Chemours
and had successfully trialled Opteon™ XL40 in its
mobile cold store rental units. When they received

3

the request from Park Cakes, Dawsonrentals
proposed using Opteon™ XL40.

occupancy level the charge limit was 25kg, so thedesign would still be compliant with EN 378.

The 1,805m3 cold store was designed andinstalled by Dawsonrentals. Due to the lack ofequipment rating data available at the time forOpteon™ XL40, Dawsonrentals designed therefrigeration systems on R-407F and initially used
R-407F to commission the system. The cooling
was provided by three Zanotti HCU5180B941J
condensing units, each comprising a Bitzer
4HE-18Y-40P semi-hermetic compressor
using BSE 32 oil and a Danfoss TE5 R407A/F
thermostatic expansion valve with a #2 orifice.

The new Park Cakes unit, which was operationalin October 2017, replaces ten modular units,each capable of holding 36 pallets. The newbuilding, designed to run on the latest
Opteon™ XL40 (R-454A) refrigerant gas, takes
the same volume of pallets, but in a smaller andfar more controllable area. The new unit is fully
racked and forklift-compatible inside, offering
the producer faster and easier access to thestock it needs. The mono-pitch steel structure isconstructed to BS EN 1993-1 with 40mm thick,
Loss Prevention Certification Board-approved,
PIR roof and fascia cladding.

Dawsonrentals carried out risk assessments forthe use of Opteon™ XL40 and found there was noneed to include any additional safety measures.
After initial commissioning, the R-407F wasreplaced by 23kg of Opteon™ XL40 in each of thethree units. Under EN 378, as the machine room
was outside (Class II), the cold store had restrictedaccess (category c) and a very low occupancy
level (<1 person / 10m2), there was no charge limit
for using Opteon™ XL40, but even for a higher

The team installing the refrigeration units wasfully trained in the handling and use of flammable
refrigerants and the installation followed theguidance given in the applicable standards suchas EN 378. Kevin Smith, Technical Manager
at Dawsonrentals comments: “Refrigeration ishandled by a number of the latest low noise,energy-efficient units, utilising the industry-

The cold storage facility is fully racked and forklift-compatible.

4leading R-454A refrigerant gas with a very low
GWP of 239. It took the Dawsonrentals on-siteteam just 22 weeks to build and get operational.”

A Climacheck data logger was used to collectdata from the system. Sensors were fitted tolog the suction and discharge pressures andtemperatures as well as the liquid line temperature
at 5-second intervals.

System performance data

The condensing unit monitored was for theevaporator nearest the door and at the time themonitoring was performed, the cold store wasbeing loaded and therefore the outside door wasoften open resulting in a near constant operationof the system for the logging period rather
than the normal cycling that might have beenexpected.

The performance of the cold store is to thesatisfaction of the end user. This section details
the data collected for one of the condensing
units positioned closest to the main door of thecold store. The system was not monitored with
R-407F and so a direct comparison was notpossible. However, using the data collected,
it was possible to estimate a performance forR-407F and R-404A, based on the assumptionthat the operating parameters would be the same
as for Opteon™ XL40. With this assumption, it
was estimated that Opteon™ XL40 would operatewith 6% and 11% more capacity than R-407F
and R-404A, respectively, with a 14% and
12% better energy efficiency than R-407F andR-404A, respectively.

It was not possible to log the evaporator exit
temperature and so it was assumed that thesuperheat was constantly at the reported settingof 10K. Using the logged data, it was possible tocalculate the mean condensing temperature, mean
evaporating temperature, total suction superheat,total liquid subcool, capacity and C.O.P.

120301002520Sucon Temp / °C

Sucon Pressure / bar.g

Liquid Line Temp / °C

Discharge Temp / °C

Discharge Pressure / bar.g

1580601040

Discharge Temperature

Temperature and Pressure (excluding discharge temperature)35

52000-510203040
Run Time (minutes)

506070800Chart 1: Measured system data for Opteon™ XL405Using the measured system data (Chart 1) andcalculated operating parameters (Chart 2), it
was then possible to estimate how R-407F andR-404A may have performed at the same system
operating parameters (Table 1). Using the Bitzer
compressor selection software as a reference,
there was a strong indication that liquid injection

was used with R-407F to control the compressor
discharge temperatures and therefore, for themodelling it was assumed that any compressor
discharge temperature above 108°C (themaximum observed with Opteon™ XL40) would
require liquid injection.

5040Operang Parameters as stated3020100-10-20

Mean Evap. Temp. (°C)

Total Superheat (K)Mean Cond. Temp. (°C)

Total Sub-cool (K)Capacity (kW)

C.O.P.

-30-40-5001020304050607080

Run Time (minutes)
Chart 2: Calculated operating parameters for Opteon™ XL40

Table 1: Estimated performance comparison of Opteon™ XL40, R-407F and R-404AOpteon™ XL40R-407FR-404A

Mean Evaporator Temperature / °C

-29.8

-29.8

-29.8

Mean Condenser Temperature / °C

34.2

34.2

34.2

Evaporator Pressure / bar.g

0.994

0.769

1.048

Condenser Pressure / bar.g

14.75

14.69

14.80

Suction Temperature / °C

-1.0

-1.1

-3.0

Discharge Temperature w/o cooling / °C

105.4

119.8

88.8

Total Liquid Subcooling / K

2.4

2.4

2.4

Evaportaor Inlet Temperature / °C

-32.1

-32.0

-30.1

Evaporator Exit Temperature / °C

-17.5

-17.7

-19.6

Total Suction Superheat / K

26.6

26.6

26.6

Cooling Capacity / kW

20.7

18.4

19.4

C.O.P.

1.81

1.55

1.58

6

Conclusions
The innovative use of Opteon™ XL40 proveda winning choice, from installation to overall
performance to GWP reduction. The installationof the system using Opteon™ XL40 did notpresent any additional complexity compared toinstalling a system operating on R-407F. The risk
assessment for this installation did not reveal
any situations that required additional safetymeasures and the charge calculations for thisinstallation did not prove to be a barrier either.
Park Cakes is extremely pleased with the results
to date. As George Walsh, Supply Chain Manager
at Park Cakes confirms: “We went for what webelieved was a low cost option with those originalR-404A modular units, but suffered in terms ofboth innovation and service. I’m very happy to
be working with Dawsonrentals this time. The

new building is far better value: delivering thesame storage capacity from a much smaller
footprint, and with the added benefits of lower
running costs and easier access. It is far more
economical and convenient in every respect. The
fact we are not opening and closing ten individual
doors, and now have R-454A gas at work, thismakes a significant contribution to reducing ourenvironmental impact.”
The system has performed as expected since
it was installed in October 2017, without any
reported problems and the calculations basedon the measured data indicate that the system
is performing better than R-407F or R-404A
would have done if operating at the same systemparameters. Opteon™ XL40 has been provento be an excellent replacement for R-404A
with improved performance, as well as a 94%
reduction in the GWP of the refrigerant.

7

For more information on the Opteon™
family of low GWP products, visit opteon.com

A brand of The Chemours Company.
opteon.com

The information set forth herein is furnished free of charge and based on technical data that Chemours believes to be reliable. It is intended for use
by persons having technical skill, at their own risk. Because conditions of use are outside our control, Chemours makes no warranties, expressedor implied, and assumes no liability in connection with any use of this information. Nothing herein is to be taken as a license to operate under, or arecommendation to infringe, any patents or patent applications.
Title picture: istockphoto | petesaloutos© 2018 The Chemours Company FC, LLC. Opteon™ and any associated logos are trademarks or copyrights of The Chemours Company FC, LLC.
Chemours™ and the Chemours Logo are trademarks of The Chemours Company.
C-11589 EMEA (2/18)

For more information on the Opteon™ family of low GWP
products, visit opteon.com

The information set forth herein is furnished free of charge and based on technical data that Chemours believes to be reliable. It is intended for use
by persons having technical skill, at their own risk. Because conditions of use are outside our control, Chemours makes no warranties, expressedor implied, and assumes no liability in connection with any use of this information. Nothing herein is to be taken as a license to operate under, or arecommendation to infringe, any patents or patent applications.
Title picture: istockphoto | petesaloutos© 2018 The Chemours Company FC, LLC. Opteon™ and any associated logos are trademarks or copyrights of The Chemours Company FC, LLC.
Chemours™ and the Chemours Logo are trademarks of The Chemours Company.
C-11589 EMEA (2/18)