China to ban HCFC-141b in refrigerator production

Beijing – China is to ban HCFC-141b as a blowing agent in refrigerator, freezer, reefer and electric storage water heater production.

The ban will come into effect on 1 January 2019.

The new rule will ‘make the [polyurethane] sector greener with a lower carbon footprint and help its transformation and upgrade’, said a notice from China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment in October.

China’s polyurethane sector started phasing out HCFCs in 2011. Nationally, more than 7,400 tons of HCFC-141b has been replaced by other blowing agents in these application segments, said the Ministry’s website.

China’s residential refrigerator and freezer market has stabilised over the past few years with 73.3m refrigerators and 22m freezers made in 2017.

The commercial freezer market is growing faster than the domestic market. China is now the world’s largest reefer maker and exporter, said the website.

The electric water heater market is also shooting up with an average annual growth rate of 15%. Last year China produced 35m electric water heaters, of which 33m contained insulated storage.