Performance of newly developed hydrofluoroolefin blowing agents.

Rigid polyurethane insulation foam plays an important role in reducing refrigeration and air conditioning loads along the whole cold food chain: warehouses where the food is kept, refrigerated trucks, display units in supermarkets and domestic refrigerators. A key raw material in rigid polyurethane insulation foam is the blowing agent. The use of fluorocarbon blowing agents has historically resulted in foams with the highest insulation performance, best physical properties, safest and simplest processing characteristics, and best value in use. New hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) blowing agents successfully incorporate the required environmental properties, improve high insulating characteristics and maintain the non-flammability that have differentiated fluorocarbon blowing agents as the best choice. The transition from hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) to HFO blowing agents will represent a 99.9% reduction in the GWP. In addition, the good insulating properties of HFOs allow OEMs to improve energy efficiency up to 10% versus present solutions.