Physical, safety, and environmental data for current and alternative refrigerants.

TLDR

This paper reviews the evolution of refrigerants, summarizing key physical, safety, and environmental data across historical, current, and emerging fluids. The authors present two comprehensive tables—one organized by standard designation and another by normal boiling point—detailing data for 284 refrigerants, explaining the parameters, citing sources, and contrasting scientific values with regulatory limits. Published on a roughly four‑year cycle, the latest edition adds about 100 refrigerants, including unsaturated fluorochemicals still limited to testing by manufacturers.

Abstract

This paper summarizes key physical, safety, and environmental data for refrigerants including those widely used historically, in common use today, and under consideration for future use. The text outlines the progression through successive generations of refrigerants. Two tables, one sorted by standard designations to facilitate location of specific refrigerants and the second sorted by normal boiling points, present data for 284 refrigerants, many of them blends. The paper explains the tabulated parameters and identifies the data sources used. Additional tables contrast the latest scientific data with corresponding regulatory values. The authors have published similar summaries in the past, on approximately a four-year cycle, to support international assessments and other studies. The successive updates accommodate both new fluids and new or refined data. This version adds approximately 100 refrigerants, among them unsaturated fluorochemicals even though not yet in use except for testing by component and equipment manufacturers.