Air conditioning Compressor under the Target of carbon Neutralization pay attention to the change of refrigerant structure and explore the Technology of Environmental Protection refrigerant

The government work report in 2021 listed "doing a solid job in carbon peak and carbon neutralization" as one of the key tasks, and clearly pointed out the need to formulate an action plan to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to make due contributions to the global response to climate change with practical actions. One of the effective ways to achieve "carbon neutralization" and curb global warming is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and refrigerant substitution is bound to accelerate, which is also the direction of the air conditioning compressor industry.

In recent years, the refrigerant structure of rotor compressor shows the characteristics of rapid growth of R32 share, accelerated elimination of R22, extrusion of R410a share and obvious increment of R290.

According to industry online data, 115.357 million R32 rotor compressors were sold in 2020, an increase of 28.4 percent over the same period last year, with a market share of 54.5 percent, an increase of 12.8 percent over the previous year. At the same time, the market share of R410a and R22 rotor compressors fell by 5% and 8.4%, respectively. In addition to R32, other refrigerant rotor compressors are also expanding rapidly. In 2020, R290 rotor compressors sold 7.156 million units, an increase of 34.6% over the same period last year. In addition, with the rapid development of vehicle air conditioning and other applications, the proportion of R134 refrigerant has been further improved.

At the same cooling capacity, the charge quantity of R32 is only about 2 + 3 of that of R22. Compared with the global warming coefficient of R410A and R32, the price of R32 refrigerant is more advantageous than that of R410a refrigerant and R22 refrigerant, and the cost of R32 air-conditioning system is relatively lower. These advantages have led to a rapid increase in the market share of R32 rotor compressors and household air conditioners.

Since 2014, driven by the export market, the demand for domestic R32 refrigerant compressors began to increase, with a total sales volume of 3.7 million R32 rotor compressors in 2014. With the mass production of Gree and Haier R32 refrigerant air conditioners in 2015, the R32 compressor market has gradually shifted from export to domestic market.

Although the share of R32 compressor and household air conditioner is growing rapidly, the greenhouse effect value of HFC-32 is 675, which still has a high GWP value. Under the trend of low GWP standard for refrigerants, how to achieve more energy saving, high efficiency, low carbon and environmental protection is the future development direction.

According to the Kigali Amendment, most developing countries, such as China, will freeze HFCs consumption from 2024 and start reducing it from 2029. The reduced quota will be calculated based on the sum of the average production / consumption of HFCs from 2020 to 2022 and the production + consumption of HCFCs at the 65 per cent baseline level (2009-2010). At present, the rapid growth of R32 application has a certain impact on the baseline value of HFCs from 2020 to 2022, which brings some challenges to the future HFCs reduction in China's household air-conditioning industry.

The latest goal of "carbon neutralization" proposed by the government will accelerate the replacement of traditional refrigerants by environmentally friendly refrigerants, which is of great significance to energy conservation and emission reduction. In contrast, the advantage of R290 is that it is easier to obtain than fluorite-dependent refrigerants, the cost is lower than synthetic refrigerants, and the values of GWP and ODP are close to 0. In terms of application, R290 is recognized in many areas other than air conditioners, such as light commercial freezers, heat pumps and so on. From the perspective of international environmental protection trend, the Kigali Amendment, which came into force on January 1, 2019, is even more helpful to the promotion and development of R290 air conditioners. As more countries join the Kigali Amendment, it will provide more opportunities for R290 products to expand overseas markets. In 2020, the number of R290 compressors used in mobile air conditioners and dehumidifiers increased significantly, while the increase in the export of heat pump dryer compressors has driven the overall sales of R290. According to industry online data, sales of GMCC R290 compressors increased by 54.7% in 2020 compared with the same period last year, while sales of Lingda R290 compressors increased by 45.6% in 2020 compared with the same period last year.

In 2021, relevant government departments in China have formulated a clear promotion plan for R290 air conditioners, and R290 air conditioning production lines and compressor production lines will be renovated. It will continue to support the household air conditioning industry to carry out technical research on R290 air conditioners as well as public publicity and promotion activities. At present, many compressor enterprises have launched R290 environment-friendly refrigerant compressor. in the future, with the transformation of the production line and the expansion of downstream applications, the market share of R290 compressor will continue to grow.