China Refrigeration - The Asian market for hydrocarbons

The current economic crisis, global warming issues and energy consumption are the major themes dominating this year’s China Refrigeration, held from 5-7 April in Guangzhou. Asia’s largest event for the HVAC&R industry has set itself the target to become the meeting place for experts to re-think the future of refrigeration and propose solutions that can create new business opportunities for the domestic and world market. As already specified in the event invitation, in 2009, the Chinese industry is standing at the crossroads to decide whether to minimize costs or invest in new more viable technologies helping to secure market leadership.

Hydrocarbon refrigerants, still covering a small market compared to the dominating R22 and its chemical replacements, are steadily making inroads into the Chinese market, as several HC refrigerant suppliers and compressor manufacturers confirm. At the same time, a majority of technical seminars accompanying the event this year are focussing on green solutions, including the replacement of R22 with propane and isobutane. Over the next few days, hydrocarbons21.com will provide an overview of HC solutions on display, the current market for R600a and R290, as well as their future market potential.