Opteon XL20™

©

Refrigerant (R-454C)

Lowe Rental Ltd Utilizes
Opteon™ XL20 from Chemours
As A Very Low GWP Replacementfor R-404A

Background

Lowe Rental Ltd, founded in 1977 and basedin the UK, has rapidly grown to become a world
leading provider of rental refrigeration equipment
to major food exhibitions, events, producers, andretailers across the world. After F-Gas regulation
EU 517/2014 came into force on 1st January
2015, Lowe became aware of the reduction inquota of CO2 equivalents that would have anearly effect on the supplyof R-404A. Even in advance ofthe F-Gas regulation, Lowe had been
receiving customer requests to use lower
GWP products than R-404A in their rental
refrigeration cabinets. They quickly realized thatthey needed new refrigerant solutions to meet theneeds of the changing industry.

Opteon™

Refrigerants

Picture: © Lowe Rental Ltd

Following the launch of Opteon™ XP40 (R-449A) by
Chemours in 2014 and the subsequent approvalof this refrigerant by a number of compressor andcabinet manufacturers as an alternative to R-404A,
Lowe decided to offer this as an option to theircustomers.Opteon™ XP40 has a GWP below 1400
and very similar performance to R-404A in retrofit
and new equipment.
The introduction was successful and Lowe now has
many hundreds of cabinets with Opteon™ XP40 intheir rental fleet. The decision to use this productwas also made easier by the wide availability ofOpteon™ XP40 for service in the supply chain. JonCarn, Commercial Director of Lowe, stated “with theuse of Opteon™ XP40 in our range of cabinets, wecan meet customer requirements to move away fromhigh GWP refrigerants and ensure we are secure as
the pressure comes on R-404A through the F-Gas
phase down”.

Following the success of Opteon™ XP40, Lowealso became interested in very low GWP options,specifically those that avoided using highly
flammable refrigerants. In particular, they had aneye on the future ban in 2022 on new hermetic units
using refrigerants with GWP >150.
Lowe’s fleet of rental equipment is mobile and canbe transported and used in a variety of locations.
This makes it very important to ensure the safest
possible refrigerant solution is used, as operatorsand service technicians may vary greatly in theirtraining and skill – depending on the location. Loweonce again turned to Chemours and was introduced
to Opteon™ XL20 (R-454C), one of the company’s
newly commercialized low GWP refrigerants.

Opteon™

Refrigerants

Opteon™ XL20 Refrigerant

Opteon™ XL20 (R-454C) is a non-ODP, low GWP(146) refrigerant with properties that make itsuitable as a replacement for R-404A in newequipment. It has a safety classification of A2L,
which means that it is mildly flammable and has amuch better safety profile than A3 highly flammableindustrial gases, such as Propane (R-290).
Following publication of the new EN 378 standard,equipment manufacturers will be able to design andbuild equipment utilizing new 2L refrigerants making
use of the much higher charge sizes, over ten times
more than what’s possible with hydrocarbons, but
still below the limit of GWP 150.
Opteon™ XL20 Properties
ASHRAE Number

R-454C

LubricantPOE

Boiling Point-45.9 °C

Safety Classification

A2L

Temperature Glide~6 K

LFL*

0.293 kg/m³*Based on worst-case formulation (WCF) flammability

First Trial with Chilled Drinks Cabinet

As a first trial, a Lowe chilled drinks cabinet runningon R-404A was selected to see if Opteon™ XL20
was a suitable replacement. The 2L product would
normally only be intended for commercial use in newequipment; but, in this case, the charge size waswell below the limits specified in EN 378, and, so, asimple retrofit was conducted.
The cabinet performance was measured while runningon R-404A and then again once the refrigerant wasremoved and replaced with Opteon™ XL20. Thecharge size was approximately 350 g. As the unit had
a capillary expansion device, it was not possible toadjust the superheat settings; but ,the cabinet stillpulled down to temperature and operated in a similar
way to when running on R-404A.

Picture: © Lowe Rental Ltd

Opteon™

Refrigerants

The cooling capacity was measured to be approximately
10% lower and the COP approximately 5% higher thanR-404A. The discharge temperature was 5K higher
than with R-404A, but well within the limits of thecompressor. Due to the relatively lower mass flow ofOpteon™ XL20, new equipment designs could be tuned
to ensure optimum performance; but, this experimentshows that Opteon™ XL20 is a viable replacement forR-404A in such systems.

This fits in well with the theoretical data shown
below:
Medium Temperature

Mean Condensing Temperature

30 ºC

45 ºC

Cooling Capacity

-11%

-9%

COP

+5%+8%

Relative Mass Flow

-26%

-26%

Suction Pressure-87 kPa-93 kPa

Discharge Pressure-219 kPa-306 kPa

Discharge Temperature+6.6 K+7.7 KThe data above was obtained from theoretical cycle
calculations for medium temperature (-8 °C mean evaporatingtemperature) refrigeration scenarios. For both the medium andlow temperature scenarios, the following parameters wereused: evaporator superheat = 4 K, suction line superheat 8 K,
liquid subcooling 2 K, and compressor efficiency = 70%.

For more information on the Opteon™ family of ­refrigerants or otherrefrigerants from Chemours, 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 theirown risk. Because conditions of use are outside our control, Chemours makes no warranties, expressed or 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 a recommendation to infringe, any patents or patent applications.
© 2016 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 aretrademarks of The Chemours Company.
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