Thursday, July 5, 2012

‘Honeywell Solstice LBA could very well be the leading blowing agent in India’

POLYURETHANE INDUSTRY:

Honeywell India recently launched its new product offerings, the Honeywell Solstice range of low global warming products in India, with an initial emphasis on polyurethane (PU) foam blowing agents through targeted workshops organized in association with the Indian Polyurethane Association.

In this exclusive interview with Chemical Weekly, Mr. Abhijeet Kudva, Strategic Marketing Manager for Fluorine Products, Honeywell India, discusses the need for the products in the PU, refrigeration and air conditioning industries and the advantages they offer.

Excerpts from the interview:

Can you elaborate more about the new products that you are launching in the Indian market?

We launched Solstice in India in November, 2011 and did our first workshop in Mumbai on November 4 with the India Polyurethane Association (IPUA). The second workshop was mainly focused on manufacturers and industry members in Northern India. This series will be replicated across the country for those who are unable to travel.

Honeywell has been a global leader in fluorocarbon technology and over the years we have been the inventor of some of the most important HCFCs and HFCs.

HFCs have moderate Global Warming Potential (GWP). So Honeywell recently launched an alternative solution, which not only has no impact on the ozone layer, but also has very low GWP, making it an environmentally friendlier product. We also needed to ensure we retain the best properties of the original product; i.e. to retain the thermal properties, such as low thermal conductivity, to ensure that the transition from an HFC to the new product is with the same or better energy efficiency.

Honeywell has now launched a series of hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) and these are fluorocarbons with a double bond. These products have a very short atmospheric lifecycle – around a month – resulting in a very low GWP and no impact on the ozone layer. We have launched these products for the appliance, expanded polystyrene (XPS), refrigeration, spray foam and for aerosol and solvent industries. We have multiple products that fit into each of these industries in the Solstice portfolio.

 

The Solstice portfolio includes a family of stationary and mobile refrigerants, blowing agents, propellants and solvents that Honeywell continues to develop and commercialize for its customers. In addition to 1233zd, it includes HFO-1234yf, a new mobile air-conditioning refrigerant, and HFO-1234ze, a new blowing agent and propellant.

HFO-1234yf is being widely adopted by the automotive industry for use as a refrigerant in car air-conditioning systems. It has a GWP of 4, which is 99.7% less than HFC-134a (with a GWP of 1,430), the prior refrigerant used in this application.

Honeywell's Solstice gas blowing agent is being used in XPS board applications. It has a GWP of less than 6, and replaces HCFC 142b, HFC-134a and HFC-152a, as well as non-fluorocarbon products in these applications.

Honeywell's Solstice propellant is non-flammable, non-ozone depleting and has a GWP of 6. It can replace HFC-134a, which has a GWP of 1,430, and HFC-152a with a GWP of 142. It can be used in various aerosol applications, including personal and household care products, pressure dusters, warning systems, novelty aerosol products and others.

How are your products better as compared to other competing products available in the market?

In terms of atmospheric impact, let me just speak about the low GWP. Our product, Honeywell Solstice Liquid Blowing Agent (LBA), has been recently launched globally, as well as in India, and we are doing trials today with some of the leading players.

When we look at the scenario in India today, companies typically would either use a HCFC (mainly HCFC 141b), a hydrocarbon product (pentane) or HFC245fa. So, let's compare them to one another.

HCFC 141b has ozone depleting potential (ODP) and on the basis of the Montreal Protocol commitment, India, which is one of the Article V countries, would be phasing out this product from next year onwards. Eventually, it will start disappearing from the market.

HFC 245fa, which is also a Honeywell product, has no ODP, has equal energy efficiency to HCFC-141b, but has a moderate GWP (1,030).

Hydrocarbons don't have an impact on the ozone layer and have a low GWP. However, they are flammable; so you need to invest significantly in capital to make your plant fire retardant. A refrigerator company, for example, would need to increase capex significantly to ensure fire retardant capabilities in its plants.

An equally important issue is that hydrocarbons have significant challenges with energy efficiency compared to 141b, 245fa, or LBA. Hydrocarbon based refrigerators are almost 8-10% lower in energy efficiency compared to Solstice LBA based refrigerators. If you switch from hydrocarbons today to Solstice LBA, you could actually improve the energy efficiency of your refrigerator by around 8-10%.

In summary, Honeywell Solstice LBA has beneficial properties from an environmental perspective and is also energy efficient. It has a third big benefit in that it is a near 'drop-in' solution, which means one could change over from a HCFC, HFC or even a hydrocarbon to Solstice with minimal capital expenditure.

What will be the impact of the impending HCFC phase out on the Indian appliance industry?

We have seen record production and sales of refrigerators and air conditioners in the last few years. A lot of the industry players are well geared to meet the challenge and they understand HCFCs have disadvantages. At the same time, they need to meet the new energy standards, which is challenging.

The transition from HCFCs to environment-friendly alternatives is of significance, especially as the country aims to achieve a 35-40% improvement in energy efficiency for refrigerators by 2014 (as stipulated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency). The industry today needs a non-ODP blowing agent, which would at the same time also provide high energy efficiency.

What was the industry response towards your first workshop?

We did our first workshop in Mumbai because it is where a large part of the Indian rigid polyurethane industry is. In my opinion, it was a very successful workshop: we had over 70 participants from different parts of the polyurethane industry, and it served our purpose to educate the industry about the alternatives. Based on this workshop, we are now developing products and conducting trials with appliance companies and System Houses for validating the energy efficiency improvement with our products in an Indian context.

The IPUA leadership asked us to do a second workshop in Delhi and then in Chennai because they want us to disseminate this information as fast as possible to the industry. We are replicating a similar workshop model globally, to interact with the industry and to educate them.

Are you just concentrating on this one product, or looking to launch products for other segment also?

Yes, absolutely.

The Indian HCFC phase-out management plan (HPMP) has prioritized the foam sector for HCFC phase out. Hence, we started with this product. Simultaneously, based on industry needs, we are working on other Solstice products, e.g. Solstice yf refrigerant for mobile air-conditioning and Solstice propellant, liquid and gas blowing agents. All these products are available for trial, some are commercial and, as the need arises in India, we will look at introducing them and working with partners in India on trials and commercialisation.

Where are these new products manufactured?

All these products are manufactured initially out of pilot plants and then commercial, large-scale plants. For example, Solstice LBA is now manufactured out of a pilot plant. We are working on building a global scale plant as we speak to serve demand across the world. We will over the next few years have all our products available on commercial scale globally.

What sort of revenues do you contemplate from India?

Given the increasing energy standards and the requirements of being environmentally friendly, Honeywell Solstice LBA could very well be the leading blowing agent for companies who look to grow globally as well as in India.

Honeywell has invested significantly in India in terms of technical centers as well as technical knowledge building. Today nearly 10% of our global workforce and around 12,000 employees are in India. We have launched the Honeywell India Technology Center in February 2012, which is focused on developing new products for the region.

It is because of our firm belief in the potential of this market and the way it has been growing, that we are significantly investing to develop our technical capabilities.