Chemours                            HRSC0055

Chemours’ Response to the UK Parliamentary Inquiry: Heat resilience and sustainable cooling

Introduction

Chemours is a market leading performance chemicals manufacturer. (www.chemours.com)

We acknowledge that climate change is a critical issue for our planet and one of the most urgent challenges facing society today. The chemical sector, including Chemours, plays a central and complex role in the transition to a low-carbon economy and chemicals that enable low-carbon and energy-saving technologies.

Because sustainability and modern life are interwoven, product innovations and enhancements depend on today's chemical industry. Evolving science and new technologies enable:

• Efficient use of energy and resources
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
• Circularity and waste reduction
• Development of sustainable materials and business practices.

Our innovative and sustainable solutions are vital to modern living and to creating a more sustainable future. Chemours produces low global warming potential hydrofluoroolefin HFO technologies that are being used in a multitude of sustainable products across demanding applications like automotive (ICE and EV), aerospace, defence, data centres, medical, pharmaceutical, construction, and HVACR sectors. These substances are highly efficient, reducing lifecycle environmental impact.

Our next generation of substance portfolio is based on HFO chemistry, that has a very low impact on the environment.

Our Thermal & Specialized Solutions business delivers thermal management solutions with superior performance, quality, and safety, while meeting performance and regulatory requirements.

Answering the question: “How can cleaner refrigerants with low or zero global warming potentials support the UK’s cooling needs while contributing to the national emission reduction targets?”

Chemours contributes to lowering emissions targets with technologies that reduce both energy consumption in HVACR systems, which has the largest impact (indirect) on emissions and by improving the insulating capabilities of buildings and structures through high-performance foam blowing agents used in insulation[1].

The use of HFO foam blowing agents enable home's insulations that offer up to 85% better thermal performance compared to traditional fibrous batt insulation[2]. Our refrigerants, with low to very low Global Warming Potential (GWP), offer high energy efficiency and capacity, which helps our customers meet the most stringent global warming regulations and reduce the total system emissions (both direct and indirect).

In 2019, the UK government and the devolved administrations committed to legally binding targets to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. All parts of the UK have an integral role in delivering the UK-wide carbon budgets on the path to net zero by 2050, as set out in the UK’s net zero strategy. This builds upon the Climate Change Act 2008, which committed the UK to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. The UK net zero target requires a 100% reduction in net emissions.

The UK Net Zero Strategy was published as Build Back Greener in October 2021. Reaching Net Zero means tackling all sources of emissions – and heating for homes and workspaces makes up almost a third of all UK carbon emissions. This requires significant improvement in the energy efficiency of housing and nondomestic properties across the UK, ensuring they require less energy to heat, making them cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in. UK Government’s ambition is that, by 2035, all new heating appliances installed in homes and workplaces will be low-carbon technologies, such as heat pumps.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2010/31/EU promotes policies that aim to improve the building stock and aims to promote more energy efficient buildings. Therefore, making existing and new buildings more energy efficient is a centrepiece of sustainability targets – one key item is the use of high-insulating materials.

To achieve the timing required in the UK Net Zero Strategy, as already readily available technology, F-gases (HFOs) would have to play a key role.

A highly relevant contributor to UK cooling needs comes from insuring a robust and efficient Cold Chain. Refrigerated transport, storage and distribution of perishable goods must be both reliable and energy efficient. Zero GWP refrigerants can only address one aspect of those requirements, as direct emissions only account for a small fraction of a refrigeration system total global warming impact. The major contributor –by far– is the production of electricity necessary to run the cooling equipment. This is why system energy efficiency is far more relevant than the Global Warming Potential of single components like the refrigerant. Several studies and real measurement of installed systems determined that fluorinated refrigerants exhibit higher energy efficiency levels than Zero-GWP alternatives like the industrial gasses CO2, Propane or Ammonia, without the safety, complexity and reliability issues inherently linked to those alternatives. Furthermore, unlike for these alternative Industrial Gases (improperly called "Natural”), circularity initiatives can be implemented to further reduce the unwanted leakage into the atmosphere. Such cooling systems are designed to minimize leakages and the industry has converged towards progressively lower leakage rates.

To sum up, by utilizing Chemours’ leading-edge technology in HVAC and insulation, the UK can achieve the best cooling solutions while minimizing the load on the power grid and reducing emissions in general.

Answering the question: “What role might reversible heat pumps (which can act as both heating and cooling systems) and other emerging technological solutions, such as the development of smart materials, play in meeting future cooling demands?”

Private homes in England are traditionally heated rather than cooled on an annual basis. Fossil-based space heating is therefore widespread. Global warming has increased in recent years and very high ambient temperatures have already been recorded in the UK. Thus, a need for cooling also comes into consideration, that becomes even more necessary to protect and save lives among the vulnerable part of the population. Reversible heat pumps are ideally suited to combine both objectives.

Chemours refrigerants are facilitating the adoption of such reversible Heat Pumps, which are considered a key tool for driving the Green Transition:

• Heat pumps are key to decarbonization; by end 2022, the heat pumps installed across Europe and the UK had avoided over 54 million tons of CO2, the equivalent of the annual emissions of Greece[3].
• The majority of heat pumps are designed to use F-gases and generally cannot be converted to use so called “natural” refrigerants due to safety reasons and the highly flammable aspect of these refrigerants. For example, less than 5% of heat pumps in Germany are using so called “natural” refrigerants such as propane R-290[4]. A similar penetration can be extrapolated at European level.
• Should access to F-gases be restricted, millions of heat pumps would be rendered obsolete, which could prolong UK reliance on fossil fuels.

Achieving the UK Net Zero Strategy: In many cases, F-gases are less energy intensive than alternatives and have a lower global warming potential (GWP) over the long term. Thus, they are key to advancing emission reductions as detailed in the Build Back Greener strategy paper.

In short, we are very supportive of the UK goals, and we wish to make sure that these parallel initiatives are not bringing any inconsistency, as this could undermine UK’s ability to deliver on its ambition to decarbonize cooling and heating, and lowering emissions.

We are members of the UK HPA, the umbrella organization, representing the majority of the heat pump industry in the UK. They will provide more details regarding the application of reversible Air-Air Heat Pumps (AAHP). The refrigeration technology that Chemours has developed ensures that this essential equipment for decarbonization is as efficient as possible and can be rolled out at scale in the shortest possible time.

The stationary HVACR technology is coming from a multi-decade convergence towards a narrow range of refrigeration fluids where, like many other vapor-compression based technologies, it developed around early F-gases for thermodynamic reasons. It then transitioned by adopting specifically developed hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) solutions. When concerns over the potential climate impact of HFC’s were identified, the industry started searching for lower global warming potential (GWP) alternatives. Over the years of this transition process, specific long term, zero ozone-depleting potential (ODP), and very-low GWP solutions were developed, based on hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs).

In fact, HFOs outperform industrial gas alternatives (so called natural refrigerants such as propane and CO2) in reversable heat pumps, which represent one of the most significant new demand segments in Europe. Heat pump demand is set to skyrocket 8-fold from 77 terra watt hours (TWh) in 2022 to 611 TWh by 2050. Residential heat pump installations in Europe are expected to rise to five million a year by 2030 and are set to achieve 60 million cumulative heat pump installations in the residential sector by then[5].

Refrigerant choice in heat pumps can play a critical factor in attaining energy efficiency. For example, heat pumps optimized for the latest generation of very low GWP F-gases, such as R-454C, can enable up to 29% higher Energy Efficiency and up to 49% higher Capacity, while reducing emissions by up to 22% compared to standard R-290 (Propane) equipment. Because direct emissions of R-454C systems represent around 1% of the total CO₂ equivalent system emissions, increasing the COP by 29% results in a decrease in total emissions by over 22%[6].

Answering the question: “How can sustainable cooling solutions and adaptation strategies be implemented in such a way as to minimise overheating, reduce energy consumption, and prevent overloading of the electricity grid during peak demand?

Chemours can contribute through its chemistry to minimising overheating and overloading of the electricity grid both 1) Passively, by use of more efficient insulation technologies than alternatives can offer, and 2) Actively, by enabling the most energy efficient cooling technologies.

1. Passive measures: Minimize overheating via performance insulation using the latest generation insulating foam.

F-gases serve as highly effective blowing agents in foam production for insulation materials, buildings, refrigerators, and other appliances. Recently, F-gas blowing agents with a high GWP are being phased down in favour of very low GWP HFO blowing agents. HFOs can be used in the production of a large variety of insulation applications, depending on the desired properties and application requirements. During the production process of a foam insulation the blowing agent becomes trapped in the cell structure, reducing the thermal conductivity of a foam plastic. This results in an insulation that is much more energy efficient than alternatives such as fibrous insulations which rely on air[7].

In residential homes and commercial buildings, the use of HFOs in spray foams effectively insulates new buildings, renovates old buildings, and reduces energy consumption through insulation and air sealing. Alternatives such as fiberglass or mineral wool do not air seal and have lower insulating power, thus must be installed in greater thicknesses to achieve the same thermal resistance – which may not be feasible when renovating existing housing units. Closed cell spray foams that use HFO blowing agents are the only insulation that can perform multiple functions: air sealing, vapor barrier and insulation – all with a single product installed by a single contractor[8].

In unventilated attic designs in particular, the sealing capability and high thermal resistance provided by HFO blown spray foam provides a unique monolithic layer of insulation, sealing the attic, extending the climate-controlled space to the roof deck. This greatly improves the energy efficiency of the entire home. Spray foam is the best solution for this design. In some cases, spray foam can even be applied over an existing roof to repair and improve the building. This allows for the existing roofing materials to be reused in-situ and reduces waste generation.[9]

Performance benefits of HFO blown spray foam:

HFO blown foams have exceptional thermal resistance and low density. This minimizes the thickness of foam needed by 50% compared to a foam blown with water or CO2. As a result, less polymer is required per unit area (e.g. typically closed cell HFO Spray Foams have a free rise density as low as 28 kg/m3 vs 43 kg/m3 for closed cell water/CO2 blown foams[10]). Because of the superior insulating power resulting from the use of HFOs, the insulation also takes up very little space. Therefore, spray foam can be used to remediate or renovate existing buildings and homes with highly energy efficient insulation in the existing space where wall thicknesses cannot accommodate the required thickness of water blown or CO2 blown foam. The same applies to fiberglass or mineral wool, as these have lower insulating power and require greater insulation thicknesses to be installed to achieve the same thermal resistance. Water-blown or CO2-blown foams are neither sustainable nor economically viable when it comes to insulating older homes and buildings during renovations. There are no non-flammable alternative blowing agents that can match or approximate the thermal resistance and density reductions provided by HFO blowing agents.[11]

Safety & Sustainability Benefits of Foams

Since HFOs used in spray foam have no flash point, foams blown with HFOs have lower flammability ratings than foams blown with hydrocarbons. These spray foams are thus able to meet more stringent building codes for fire and life safety. Non-flammable blowing agents may also be safely used in spray foam without fear of explosions or fires due to the blowing agent, which is not the case of other flammable blowing agents such as hydrocarbons, which cannot be used for spray foam due to the safety risk.

Non-flammable HFOs are processed using two-component proportioning systems that are easy to use and ensure that the contractor ensures that the foam material is of consistent quality. Spray foam blowing agent compositions are tightly controlled by the chemical manufacturers and is included in the correct concentration in one of the two components. Use of supercritical CO2 requires significant equipment modification to enable the addition of a third component which may not be feasible for all equipment types. Additionally, the use of a third stream to process CO2 introduces new hazards involved related to the processing of a high-pressure gas including risk of hose failure leading to asphyxiation and/or frostbite. (For more information refer to Annex 1.)

2. Active measure: improved energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption to prevent overloading of the electricity grid.

Non-fluorinated alternatives can exhibit serious limitations in terms of energy efficiency, safety constraints and performance across different climatic conditions, especially in high ambient temperatures (for more details refer to Annex 2). These limitations restrict their effective use to a limited number of situations and are in fact why fluorinated alternatives were developed in the first place. It will take many years to find a solution which can replace those decades of F-gas technological development.

Heat pumps

With part of UK Build Back Greener strategy being driven by heat pumps, there is a need to increase installation to 600,000 per year in the UK by 2028. Up to 22% lower indirect emissions can be achieved by using F-gas based heat pumps[12].

In Europe, the following data have been collected using the latest HFO based technology versus a conventional propane (R-290) unit. Heat pumps optimized for the latest generation of F-gas HFO blends, such as R-454C, can enable up to 29% higher energy efficiency and up to 49% higher capacity, while reducing emissions by up to 22% compared to standard R-290 (Propane) equipment.[13]

Studies comparing the energy efficiency of HFOs equipment with other technologies like Propane, show that HFO Heat Pumps can contribute to save up to 150TWh of electricity in EU at the 2030 horizon. This is equivalent to EU entire yearly photovoltaic energy production.

Another key factor to consider is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over the lifetime of the equipment, which interestingly, can play a significant role in the environmental impact of any heating and cooling system as well. Like for the environmental impact, in real-world scenarios, energy costs are currently the largest contributor to OPEX (Operating Expense) and the recent stresses on global energy supply and the associated increase in electricity prices have brought this into stark focus. The cost of equipment, installation (Capital Expenditure or CAPEX) and maintenance is also very significant when comparing CO2 R-744 to an HFO based gas, which is more akin to the HFC systems now being replaced.

In conclusion, through allowing the application of leading-edge technology, as demonstrated by Chemours, we can ensure that sustainable cooling solutions and insulation are available to mitigate against the effects of climate change on the UK population. Our technology plays a key part in combatting overheating while minimizing the impact on the electricity supply network.

More details and technical information regarding our suggested solutions can be found in the Annex.

August 2023

Annex:

Annex 1:

Example of resource efficiency using a laboratory scale sample of spray foam blown with different blowing agents (Chemours own calculations):

For a SPF blown with HFO

Density = 32 kg/m3

Thermal Conductivity (lambda value)= 20 mW/m-K (lower is better)

Installed Thickness = 8.9 cm

Installed Area = 892 m2

Installed Mass of Foam = 2540 kgs

For a SPF blown with Water or CO2

Density = 43 kg/m3 (Density must be at least this or greater to achieve dimensional stability requirements)

Thermal Conductivity (lambda value) = 36 mW/m-K[14]

Installed Thickness = 15.6 cm (to achieve the same thermal resistance as the HFO example)

Installed Area = 892 m2

Installed Mass of Foam = 6675 kgs

Closed-cell SPF is a Class 5 flood-damage resistant material, as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a US federal agency. For this reason, FEMA recommends the use of closed-cell insulation where water contact is likely – like under floors, or on basement or crawlspace walls – to mitigate losses in a flood event and reduce the risk of mold growth.

Closed cell spray foam is moisture resistant, so if the process equipment is cold, it will prevent condensation. It is durable and does not lose its effectiveness if it gets wet.

Annex 2:

Particularly in warmer ambient climates, the relatively low critical temperature of CO2 versus F-gases will force the CO2 refrigeration cycle to operate in transcritical mode. Attempting to efficiently run a transcritical cycle for commercial or industrial cooling or heating greatly increases costs and complexities of the refrigeration systems while decreasing its energy efficiency. Such a decrease in energy efficiency increases the indirect emissions from electricity generation and, in some cases, these emissions even can supersede potential emissions in the rare case of a system leak, particularly over time[15]. Moreover, to run CO2 cooling systems in warmer climates, the systems require specific add-ons, complex cycles, and more materials, components, and controls, making them more complex, yet, they still deliver poor energy efficiency and must be considered unreliable even for the most highly engineered systems.

Annex 3:

HFO-1336mzzZ, HFO-1336mzzE and HCFO-1233zdE are the next generation blowing agents replacing HFCs and offer a significant contribution to reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions due to their exceptional insulating power. HFO blowing agents improve the insulating power of polyurethane foam by 5% versus HFCs and by 20% versus hydrocarbons (HCs). Additionally, HFOs improve the insulating power of foams when blended with other blowing agents by 10 to 20%. This minimizes the cost impact of HFOs, while enabling foam manufacturers to meet current and future energy efficiency standards.[16]

Annex 4:

Studies comparing the energy efficiency of HFOs equipment with other technologies like Propane, show that HFO Heat Pumps can contribute to save up to 150TWh of electricity in EU at the 2030 horizon. This is equivalent to EU entire yearly photovoltaic energy production.

-          2025 energy savings: 22% * 134TWh = 30TWh

-          2055 energy savings: 22% * 706TWh = 155TWh

-          At 28.4 Euro cents / kWh this equates to EUR 8.4bn in 2025 and EUR 44.1bn in 2055.

-          Between 2025 and 2055, this represents EUR 814bn additional energy cost using alternatives compared to F-gases

In summary, across Europe, using non-fluorinated alternatives would result in higher energy costs of EUR 18.7bn in 2025, EUR 82.8bn in 2055 and EUR 1 482 bn between 2025 and 2055.