The Chemours Co. (Wilmington, Del.; www.chemours.com) announced that, along with its partner Changshu 3F Zhonghao, it has broken ground on the world’s first full-scale production facility for HFO-1336mzz in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China. This site, expected to begin production mid-year 2017, will provide increased capacity of low global warming potential (GWP) foam expansion agents and refrigerants.
Foam expansion agents based on HFO-1336mzz, sold by Chemours as Formacel 1100, offer excellent environmental properties across a variety of applications, including appliances, spray foam and board stock. In addition to its zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and an extremely low global warming potential (GWP) of less than two, this product can further reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with better thermal insulation performance than incumbent products, according to the company. Formacel 1100 also offers superior stability compared to other olefin-based blowing agents, and its shelf life of up to 12 months allows customers to use the product with confidence over an extended period.
HFO-1336mzz is a preferred technology for many Opteon refrigerants due to its unique attributes of having low GWP, non-flammability, high efficiency and thermal stability. Chemours is actively developing several new refrigerant fluids based on HFO-1336mzz technology for a variety of applications, including traditional chiller systems and the emerging arena of waste heat recovery using technologies such as high temperature heat pumps and organic rankine cycles. These fluids are showing promising results in customer lab and field trials.
“Breaking ground for our new HFO-1336mzz production facility paves the way for Chemours to add still more capacity to our industry-leading supply of products based on HFO technology,” said Thierry F.J. Vanlancker, president, Chemours Fluoroproducts. “The Changshu facility shows our continued commitment to meeting the needs of our customers for high performance, environmentally friendly solutions that enable them to meet growing regulatory and sustainability demands.”
“HFO technologies represent a clear path towards reducing greenhouse gases while also enhancing performance,” added Diego Boeri, global business director Chemours Fluorochemicals. “In many cases our customers tell us they see an increase in their products’ efficiency when they use our HFO-based solutions. We are proud to manufacture these breakthrough products and expect to continue to add capacity as our customers increasingly transition to our new low GWP solutions.”