Promising New R-12 Substitute
Mark Shaw
about fluoro-iodocarbon (FIC) refrigerants which show promise as
a drop in substitute for R-12 and a replacement for Halon.
I contacted Jeff Levy at the EPA SNAP program and confirmed that
they had seen some promising evaluations, but had not yet received
an application for approval. He did give me the name of a contact
for Icon Corp in Alburquerque, NM, who is the developer of the FICs.
Some additional information is being sent to me about it. They are
currently working on their SNAP submission package and plan to apply
for an automotive certification, as well as stationary refrigeration
and fire extinquishing.
Has anyone else out there in netland got any info on this?
Mark
Bruce Hamilton
>An interesting letter showed up in the IEEE "Spectrum" this month
>about fluoro-iodocarbon (FIC) refrigerants which show promise as
>a drop in substitute for R-12 and a replacement for Halon.
...
>Has anyone else out there in netland got any info on this?
Not much, these were discussed in the November 15 1993 p12-18 Chemical &
Engineering News article " Looming Ban on Production of CFCs, Halons spurs
switch to substitutes".
Mainly CF3I to replace Halon 1301 ( CF3Br) for fire-fighting.
Reference Joe Nimitz, president of the Environmental technology & Education
Ceter, Alduquerque, N.M. and Stephanie R.Skaggs, deputy director of the
Center for Global Environmental Technologies at the New Mexico Engineering
Research Institute as two of the leading proponents. Notes the price
was $300 may 1993, reduing to $150 nov 1993 and was expected to drop
to $20-30 for million lb production runs. Also reference Karen Metchis as
the EPA Halon specialist, and as the air chose CF3I as one of the 3 finalists
in their aircraft engine-fire replacement evaluations, concern about
high altitude releases is noted, as is the relatively short atmospheric
lifetime of a few days for ground-level releases.
Bruce Hamilton
George Goble
Icon gave a long talk (about 1 hour) at this summer's Purdue
Compressor Conference.. I video taped it.
That have a whole family of compounds.. which have at least
one Iodine atom in a molecule. Here is what I have from memory.
1) currently is costs hundreds of $$$ per pound.. but
that will come down as production ramps up.
2) most common compound was CF3I.
3) very good fire extinguishant..almost as good as the halons..
the most promising halon replacement.
4) has extremely high ozone depletion (destroys ground ozone)..
but atmoshperic lifetime is around 1 day.. so it never
makes it to the stratosphere to hurt the "good" ozone.
5) not too hot as a refrigerant in pure form.. but can
be blended with other things, which are good but
flammable refrigerants.. and it supresses flammability,
but takes around 50% by volume to do that in a blend.
6) Stability needs some work.. Ran in a household fridge
ok.. Others have done thermal tests in the 300F region
and breakdown happens (Iodine bond is very weak)..
seemed more unstable than R-22, etc... much ongoing
work in this area.
7) Toxcity testing needs to be done.. This sparked
lots of arguements at the talk.. The inventors had
inhaled it and lived (so did the inventor of R-12).
8) some decomposition in sunlight.. like a sight glass..
turns purple a little bit..
9) I think it runs in mineral oil..
Gregory P Dubois-Felsmann
'environmental technology' group we sometimes discuss creating]
In article <1994Nov15....@newsgate.sps.mot.com>,
Mark Shaw <ma...@wdc.sps.mot.com> wrote in rec.autos.tech:
[appended at bottom]
USEPA has, as Mark Shaw notes, begun considering fluoroiodocarbons
(FICs) as alternatives to other, ozone-depleting, fluorocarbons.
I attach a brief extract from 59 FR 49108, an EPA notice of proposed
rulemaking of 26 September 1994. It is an update to the list of
acceptable/unacceptable substitutes under the SNAP program.
This particular extract is from a subsection headed:
C. Fire Suppression and Explosion Protection
1. Proposed Acceptable Subject to Use Conditions
a. Total Flooding Agents.
-Gregory
59 FR 49108 text
================
> (2) CF3I. CF3I is proposed acceptable as a Halon 1301
> substitute in normally unoccupied areas. Any employee that could
> possibly be in the area must be able to escape within 30 seconds. The
> employer shall assure that no unprotected employees enter the area
> during agent discharge.
> CF3I (Halon 13001) is a fluoroiodocarbon with an atmospheric
> lifetime of only 1.15 days due to its rapid photolysis in the presence
> of light. The resulting GWP of this agent is less than one, and its ODP
> when released at ground level is likely to be extremely low, with
> current conservative estimates ranging from .008 to .01. Complete
> analysis of the ozone depleting potential of this agent will be
> available in the near future.
> Anticipating EPA's concern about releases of CF3I from
> aircraft, and the associated likelihood of a higher ODP value when
> released at altitude, the military has conducted an analysis of
> historical releases of Halon 1301 from both military and commercial
> aircraft. Initial assessment indicate that emissions from U.S. military
> aircraft appear to have averaged about 56 pounds annually, of which 2
> pounds were emitted above 30,000 feet. Commercial aircraft worldwide
> released an estimated average of 933 pounds of Halon 1301 annually, of
> which 158 pounds was released above 30,000 feet. While EPA is awaiting
> the results of the ODP calculations of CF3I, it is unlikely that
> such low emissions at high altitude will pose a significant threat to
> the ozone layer.
> Interest in this agent is very high because it may constitute a
> drop-in replacement to Halon 1301 on a weight and volume basis. Initial
> tests have shown its weight equivalence for fire extinguishment to be
> 1.36, and its volume equivalence to be 1.0, while for explosion
> inertion it is 1.42 and 1.04 respectively. The research community is
> continuing to qualify the properties of this agent, including its
> materials compatibility, its storage stability and its effectiveness.
> While the manufacturer's SNAP submission only requests listing in
> normally unoccupied areas, preliminary cardiosensitization data
> received by the Agency indicate that CF3I has a NOAEL of 0.2 per
> cent and a LOAEL of 0.4 per cent, and thus this agent would not
> suitably be for use in normally occupied areas.
**********
Mark Shaw's original post:
Lee Roth
(Mark Shaw) writes:
|>An interesting letter showed up in the IEEE "Spectrum" this month
|>about fluoro-iodocarbon (FIC) refrigerants which show promise as
|>a drop in substitute for R-12 and a replacement for Halon.
Here is an R-12 replacement that differs from the one you cited.
Between the ++++ signs is an excerpt from the WWW home page of a George H.
Goble. The URL is
He appears to be a electrical-techno type and part-time inventor that came
up with an R-12 substitute a few years ago. I have no idea how widespread
the use of this substance is; perhaps if you are interested you should send
him a mail.
There is a pointer in his home page to the FEDERAL REGISTER as well as
the text of two patents. The patent text is pretty explanitory but too large
for posting here. I have shown the links to these in the text below by using
the <<arrows>>.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
George Goble (GHG) [EXTENDED HOME PAGE]
CSO Phone Book Info:
name: goble george h
title: senior systems engineer
department: Electrical Engineering (ECN)
building: msee
phone: (317) 49-43545
email: g...@ecn.purdue.edu
campus: w laf
[... text describing various pictures of BBQ grill and LOX (liquid oxygen)
conflagration deleted...]
REFRIGERATION
GHG invented a substitute for CFC-12 (aka Dupont FREON-12(R)) refrigerant in
his kitchen in August 1990. It is known as GHG REFRIGERANT-12 SUBSTITUTE and
it is now manufactured at People's Welding Supply (next to Nick's) on the
Levee in W. Lafayette. It has been used in over 2,000 cars and over 10,000
pieces of other refrigeration equipment. ASHRAE has designated it as R-406A
refrigerant. CFC-12 (FREON-12(R)) has been linked to the destruction of the
Ozone layer. On August 26, 1994 the US EPA "approved" (listed on the SNAP
list) GHG for most retrofit uses except for cars. It appeared in the August
26 <<FEDERAL REGISTER>>.
GHG holds two US patents, numbers <<5,151,207>> and <<5,214,929>> on this
invention.
[... rest of text deleted ...]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lee Roth
--
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"No matter how thin you slice it it's still baloney." - Rube Goldberg
Lee Roth N8JQY ro...@froggy.decnet.ohio.gov !former DEC employee
(A bogus news agent is putting remnants after the === line... it's not me!)
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