Honeywell and key suppliers will invest approximately $300 million to increase production capacity for HFO-1234yf, its new refrigerant for air conditioning systems in automobiles.

Among these investments, Honeywell will construct a high-volume manufacturing plant using new process technology at the company’s existing Geismar, Louisiana, refrigerants manufacturing site, which is expected to be fully operational in 2016. The exact size of the plant will depend on supply agreements that Honeywell is putting in place with major customers.

Demand for HFO-1234yf is increasing around the world in response to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and the need to comply with the Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive in Europe and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations in the US. A significant portion of European demand for the current automobile refrigerant, HFC-134a, is currently supplied from the US, so our new production plant in Louisiana will mirror this arrangement. However, Honeywell is also looking at the possibility of building a plant in Europe, but this will be driven by demand and the requirements of that market.
—Andreas Kramvis, president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies

HFO-1234yf is being adopted by automakers in part to meet the EU laws, which requires that refrigerants in all new vehicle types sold in Europe after 1 Jan. 2013 have a GWP below 150. All cars sold in Europe after 2017 must meet the new GWP requirement of less than 150.

Automakers in the US are also adopting HFO-1234yf to help comply vehicle greenhouse gas standards, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with cars and light trucks. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows automakers to receive credits for using HFO-1234yf.

Nearly half a million cars are on the road today are already using HFO-1234yf. Third-party data shows that HFO-1234yf’s widespread adoption globally would have the greenhouse gas equivalent of permanently removing more than 30 million cars from the road worldwide, or about 3% of the total global fleet.