Freons or hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) are the most widespread refrigerant gases in the market today. They replaced chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) that damage the ozone layer.

SOL has in its catalogue a vast range of freon for a wide spectrum of applications and to satisfy the most particular requests from customers.

Update on the new EU F-GAS regulation

European Regulation 2037/2000, integrated by European Regulation 1005/2009, came into force on January 1, 2010 and prohibited the sale of all HCFC refrigerants (e.g. R-22), which damaged the ozone layer. An extension for the use of regenerated HCFC was conceded until December 31, 2014.

The European regulation, known as F-GAS”, 517/2014, came into force on June 9, 2014 and was applied from January 1, 2015. It provided for the progressive reduction of fluoride refrigerant greenhouse gases, those with a high global warming potential (GWP) in favour of more sustainable gases.

The reduction, or phase-down, was programmed with a mechanism that assigned admissible HFC quotas in the market that will be reduced in time, reaching, in 2030, 21% of the amount sold in 2015.

The regulation also prohibits HFC systems in hermetically sealed domestic and commercial applications such as fridges, freezers and mobile air-conditioning systems: Dal 1° gennaio 2015 per gli elettrodomestici (frigoriferi e freezer) che utilizzano gas HFC con un GWP superiore a 150;

• From 1 January 2015 for domestic appliances (refrigerators and freezers) using HFC gas with a GWP greater than 150;
• from January 1, 2020 for fridges and freezers for commercial use with a GWP of 2500 or more;
• from January 1, 2022 for fridges and freezers for commercial use with a GWP of 150 or more;
• from January 1, 2020 mobile conditioners for domestic use that use HFC gas with a GWP of 150 or more;
• from January 1, 2025 monosplit conditioning systems containing less than 3 kg of fluoride greenhouse gas, which contain or whose operation depends on fluoride greenhouse gas with GWP equal to or more than 750.

SOL offers as an alternative solution to fluoride gases with high GWP (such as R-23, R-508, R-507 or R-404) for new plant or retrofits of existing plant natural refrigerant gas or gas with almost zero greenhouse effect (HFO). 

Application table