In 2021, the EU published its revised Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) proposal, subsequently amended by the European Parliament in March 2023. Effectively, the legislation will ban PFAS. These are synthetic chemicals that are used mainly because of their ability to repel water, dirt and grease and, therefore, prevent the degradation of the main ingredient. They are sometimes referred to as ‘forever chemicals’ as they break down extremely slowly. Their use has been linked to various illnesses, including cancer, infertility and immune system deficiencies. PFAS are also known to contaminate water systems, hence the EU’s directive.

With the proposed ban including substances containing at least one fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom, the ban includes chemicals used in many refrigerants. Indeed, WorldCargo News understands that eliminating their use would affect most existing low GWP HFC/HFO refrigerant blends in use, resulting in their production having to stop. This includes HFC refrigerants, such as R125, R134a, R143a, R513A and HFOs such as R1234yf and R1234ze(E).

According to the latest proposals, the ban would come into effect for new equipment sold in Europe in 2025 and for use in servicing and repairing existing reefer equipment by 2035. Parties wishing to comment on the proposals have until 25 September 2023 to submit their views.

The potential ramifications are huge. Currently, the global fleet of reefer containers numbers 1.84M units and the majority are installed with machines that cannot be converted to using new natural refrigerants. On average, between 130,000 and 170,000 new reefer containers are built each year.

Reefer containers have an operating life of anywhere between 12 and 18 years and the average age of the pool is about six years, meaning that large numbers of containers would need to be retired early, potentially causing havoc to global cool chains and at huge expense to the industry. It is highly unusual, for instance, to install new machines on old reefer containers.

Moreover, reefer containers move an estimated 90% of chilled and frozen food that is shipped internationally with the EU’s imports and exports accounting for an estimated 23% of the global seaborne reefer container trade.

Mark Bennett, president of Sun Intermodal, a lessor of reefer containers, believes legislators are generally unaware of what their actions could lead to. He explained: “Those promoting the accelerated phase-out of F-gases and PFAS
chemicals have assumed that European refrigeration, transportation and airconditioning applications can use nonF-gas refrigerants with ultra-low GWPs instead, such as CO2  or propane.

“This may be fine for land-based transport in Europe but reefer containers on ships face extreme operational challenges with demanding requirements for the refrigerant used if it is to provide good performance with very low power consumption. On a ship, ambient temperatures can range between -25ºC and +50ºC. Cargoes need to be transported in temperature ranges of between -30ºC and +20ºC and low power consumption is critical over long voyages to minimise energy consumption, carbon emissions and operating costs.”

Bennett cited the use of the high GWP F-gas refrigerant (R134a). “Current reefers using the high GWP F-gas refrigerant R134a have low power consumption and high efficiency, yielding a low carbon footprint. And the use of HFC/HFO blends is critical in the early transition from refrigerants with high GWPs.”

It is for these reasons that existing reefer machinery manufacturers are staying with their proposed lower GWP solutions for the time being while undertaking detailed research into natural refrigerant alternatives for the future. Both Daikin and MCI see R513A as an obvious replacement for R134a given its much lower GWP rating (see p34).

“The extreme operating challenges in the maritime trading environment are not faced by land-based refrigerated transport and storage systems and there is also more flexibility when it comes to equipment size. Maritime-wise, machines have to fit within the ISO dimensions of the container, which is normally 40ft x 8ft x 9ft6in,” Bennett said. “In addition, over the road refrigerated transport vehicles have an operational life of less than 10 years, which is around half that of reefer containers.”

The EU’s apparent preference for using low GWP chemicals, such as CO2 and propane, presents the maritime reefer sector with huge challenges. Carrier Transicold is backing CO2 , which is the refrigerant it offers today in its NaturaLINE range, and as reported in this issue (p27) Carrier supports the PFAS initiative.

There are concerns, however, that while CO2 has a good cooling capacity, in ambient temperatures above 30ºC, power consumption is much higher than for current F-gas-based machinery and this would lead to a higher carbon footprint for shipping lines and, potentially, could result in power generation shortages on ships.

In the case of propane, which is highly efficient when it comes to energy consumption and at wide temperature ranges, it is highly flammable. Maersk Container Industry was developing a propane reefer machine, but ultimately decided not to proceed down this path, in large part due to the safety issues around using a flammable refrigerant. If propane is to be used safely on ships with up to 2,000 reefers on board, some major design challenges would need to be addressed and this could take several years.

Ammonia (R717) is another natural refrigerant that could be used but it has safety issues too as the chemical is mildly flammable and it is toxic. This would also result in new safety procedures being adopted and the personnel  working with reefer containers would need special training. Generally speaking, ammonia is viewed as being better suited for use in large machinery plants.

Bennett is calling for the shipping industry to be granted the exceptional use of F-gases for new equipment until 2029 and for these refrigerants to be available for servicing in Europe until 2044. “This is the best solution for the environment as well as for the global shipping business,” he said. 

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This complete item is approximately 1000 words in length, and appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 33. To access this issue download the PDF here