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Honeywell to add commercial-scale production capability for low-global-warming potential material for insulation and aerosols
7/14/2011 |
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Company will invest $33 million to add production capabilities at U.S. manufacturing site to meet growing demand
MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J., July 6, 2011 - Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that it will add commercial-scale production capability to its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A., facility to produce a low-global-warming material used in insulation and aerosols.
The $33 million investment will provide the Baton Rouge facility with the ability to produce Honeywell's new low-global-warming-potential (GWP) blowing agent and propellant (technical name: HFO-1234ze) beginning in late 2013.
"Honeywell's Baton Rouge plant has a long history of manufacturing materials that meet consumer needs for comfort and energy efficiency," said Andreas Kramvis, president and CEO of Honeywell Specialty Materials. "We are pleased that this investment will enable Baton Rouge to become the premier source of a next-generation technology that enables low-global-warming aerosol propellants, foam blowing agents and refrigerants."
"Customers are looking for solutions from Honeywell that are energy efficient, safe, economical and better for the environment than existing materials. The investment we are making in Baton Rouge will allow us to meet the significant global customer demand for HFO-1234ze, which has all of these attributes," said Terrence Hahn, vice president and general manger of Honeywell Fluorine Products. "This marks an important milestone for our entire portfolio of low-global-warming-potential products, which help safely and cost-effectively improve the energy efficiency of everyday products while meeting environmental regulations."
HFO-1234ze has been registered with the European Chemicals Agency for quantities greater than 1000 tonnes per year, and has been registered in Japan and China. It has also been accepted for use and sale by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The majority of demand for HFO-1234ze is from Europe.
HFO-1234ze is non-flammable, non-ozone depleting and has a GWP of 6. It can be used in a variety of applications and can replace HFC-134a (which has GWP of 1,430) and HFC-152a (which has a GWP of 124) in aerosol applications and thermal insulating foams, including extruded polystyrene panels. It is also being considered to replace HFC-134a for large stationary refrigeration applications.
Earlier this year, HFO-1234ze was recognised by the Paris Aerosol Forum as the best new technical product innovation. The prize was awarded by an independent jury of aerosol experts representing brand owners, packaging manufacturers and the media.
According to the Consumer Specialty Products Association, more than 4 billion aerosol containers were produced in the United States last year. According to the European Aerosol Federation, 5.1 billion aerosol containers were produced in Europe in 2009.
Honeywell has pioneered the development of hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), which are a family of unique products that offer similar performance properties to today's most widely used refrigerants, blowing agents and aerosol propellants, but with the added benefit of having a lower impact on global warming.
Another product in Honeywell's hydrofluoroolefin portfolio, HFO-1234yf, is being adopted globally by automobile manufacturers as a replacement for the current hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant used in automobile air conditioning, HFC-134a.
For more information about Honeywell's low-GWP products, visit www.abettercool.com.
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