R441A: EPA approved for wine chillers, in residential units

hydrocarbons21.com spoke to Richard Maruya, President of A.S. Trust & Holdings, and Steven Mella, Chief Executive Officer at ComStar International Inc., a few days after the R441A blend received its fourth SNAP approval, this time for use in wine coolers. In this interview, they tell us about their achievements in 2012, their expectations for 2013, and explain to hydrocarbons21.com readers the various stages of the EPA approval proc

hydrocarbons21.com: Could you remind us how many SNAP Approvals the R441A blend has received already?

Steven Mella: This completed application for residential and stand alone commercial wine chillers is the 4th successful application granted by the US EPA to the hydrocarbon refrigerant R441A in these last two years: In 2011, the R441A was already found to be an acceptable substitute in household refrigerators and freezers as well as for use in new vending machines. More recently, the EPA also approved another submission by A.S. Trust for the use of the R441A in stand-alone retail refrigeration equipment.

hydrocarbons21.com: Could you tell us what the R441A blend brings to the market?

Richard Maruya: First, the EPA has set the maximum charge amount in the system at 57 grams for residential refrigerators. R441A is totally compliant with this, as we have shown that R441A used in a 21 cubic foot refrigerator freezer uses 37 to 40 grams on average. With a wine cooler, it would not be a problem either.

Secondly, R441A provides superior energy saving results compared to traditional hydrocarbons like propane and isobutane. R441A is a multi-blend, pure hydrocarbon refrigerant with different boiling points. As a drop-in into a system, it can reduce energy consumption by an average of 20%. Should the system be tuned for multi blend energy use, this consumption will decrease even further.

hydrocarbons21.com: Could you summarise for our readers the different steps of the EPA’s approval process ?

Steven Mella: The EPA /SNAP application process is quite simple. You need to submit an application to the US EPA. Meanwhile, you contract with independent testing companies to perform and document all the tests required by the Agency. Then you submit 3 copies of the whole file. The EPA will review your file within 90 days.

After 90 days, the EPA may revert to you with some additional questions. It is possible that you may need to run more tests. As soon as you send your reply, the EPA will provide you with its answer within another 90 days. So in several cases, the final EPA’s approval can be relatively fast, after 3 or 6 months.

In some other cases, it can be longer, if the EPA has additional questions. To better document and facilitate their decision, they can also decide to involve a peer-group to answer a particular question. Sometimes the answer of the peer-group will differ from the one of your external contractor.

hydrocarbons21.com: What are your upcoming projects for 2013 year?

Richard Maruya: We will continue working with the EPA to complete our applications for mobile ventilation air-conditioning (MVAC) systems and refrigerated transport units.

We also need to follow up with them on our last applications regarding our other hydrocarbon blend, the R443A, for use in residential, household split air-conditioning units, heat pumps, and central air condition systems.. We will also be submitting additional EPA/SNAP applications for the use of R443A in commercial heat pump, split and central air-conditioning systems.

We are currently working on a controller, using R441A, in household refrigerators, to decrease electrical consumption and further reduce the total amount of char

Thank you both!

About A.S. Trust & Holdings and ComStar International Inc.

A.S. Trust & Holdings, based in Hawaii, is the inventor of the blended hydrocarbon refrigerant HCR 188 C, which has been designated R441A by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

R441A was one of the first hydrocarbon refrigerants to be approved for sale in the United States by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Significant New Alternative Policy (SNAP) for use in household refrigerators and freezers in December 2011.

A.S. Trust partners with ComStar International Inc., a New York based company, one of the US leaders in developing and manufacturing environmentally safe industrial chemicals, to distribute the R441A refrigerant.