The Future of Refrigerants for Heat Pump Applications

Industry and other sectors are currently looking for solutions to decarbonize their processes, including heating, which is mainly based on fossil fuel boilers. Moving to the electrification of heat by implementing heat pump technologies to provide the demanded load can be complex. Choosing the right working fluid, synthetic or natural refrigerant, with less harm to the environment (low GWP) and humans (Safety issues) is under debate globally and is needed urgently before 2030. Some measures have been taken to solve this problem by introducing short-term synthetic refrigerants such as R32 in Europe and R454B in the US with low GWP values. This article summarizes the debate of which refrigerants are suitable for usage in heating and cooling systems and their effects on the surroundings.