Analysis of Refrigerant Substitution Scheme for Household Air Conditioning under Kigali Amendment

Refrigerant substitution in household air conditioning has become a common concern in the global refrigeration and air conditioning industries. This study analyzes the specific clauses of the Kigali Amendment. Based on the GWP value of the R410A refrigerant, different equivalent factors were selected to calculate the regulatory limits of different countries and regions in different years. Under the restrictions of different national laws and regulations, three available refrigerants from R410A, R32, R454B, R161, and R290, have been selected to represent different usage scenarios. The refrigerant replacement process of HFCs was predicted and analyzed following Kigali′s revised Global Warming Potential (GWP) limit, and the influence of refrigerant charge reduction was discussed. The results show that to satisfy the Kigali Amendment, the proportion of R290 in Europe must exceed 30% and become the mainstream refrigerant in 2024, whereas the United States can realize the possibility of not using R290 by reducing the charge of R454B. China can meet the GWP limit by using either R290 or R161and there is no need to switch to both two refrigerants simultaneously.