USA – Honeywell have today announced that Unit45, a global leader in the sale and leasing of refrigerated shipping containers, or reefers as they are commonly called, will henceforth exclusively use Honeywell’s Solstice Liquid Blowing Agent (LBA) instead of currently used hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to help insulate all their new containers.

This decision means that Unit45 now requires its manufacturer, China-based Yangzhou TongLee Special Container, to use the blowing agent in a closed-cell spray foam used to insulate the reefers. Unit45’s manufacturer, TongLee, is itself part of the larger group China International Marine Containers (CIMC), a world leader in the supply of logistics and energy equipment.

Foam-blowing agents such as Solstice LBA are designed to allow closed-cell foam insulation to expand, thus providing the majority of the foam’s insulating properties.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Jan Koolen, the CEO for Unit45, said that “The containers made with Solstice LBA have provided superior performance over the past few years. These reefers consume less energy and also help to keep us ahead of global environmental regulations calling for a reduction in climate impact.”

Honeywell claim that those TongLee-manufactured reefers which benefit from the use of insulation formulated with Solstice LBA will show a significant improvement in reverse heat leakage (RHL) than containers made using an HFC blend. It is further claimed that the new containers also demonstrate improved thermal conductivity, particularly at lower temperatures (10°C), which helps to reduce energy consumption during operations.

Patrick Clifford, the global business manager for Honeywell’s foam blowing agents business, also commented on the deal, saying “We are pleased that Unit45 is taking a leadership role in the innovation of refrigerated container technology and adopting Solstice LBA for all their new containers. Numerous other customers in the container, appliance and construction industries are evaluating and adopting Solstice LBA to improve energy efficiency and comply with environmental regulations.”

Honeywell claim that their Solstice LBA is in the process of being adopted by rigid insulation manufacturers worldwide in their drive to reduce their environmental footprint and comply with environmental and energy efficiency regulations. Honeywell have previously stated that the Solstice LBA has an ultra-low-global-warming-potential (GWP) of 1, which is 99.9% lower than the GWPs for hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) blowing agents, and is equal to that of carbon dioxide. Honeywell have released figures which indicate that the adoption of Solstice products by Honeywell customers worldwide has contributed to the reduction of more than 27 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to date, a sum equivalent to eliminating emissions from more than 5 million cars.

Solstice LBA is nonflammable (ASTM E-681) and is defined as being a non-volatile organic compound as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agent has been manufactured in Honeywell’s dedicated Solstice LBA manufacturing plant since May 2014 and is listed under the EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program as well as being registered under the European Union’s REACH program.