1,1,1,3,3-Pentafluoropropane (HFC-245fa) is a

hydrofluorocarbon Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are synthetic organic compounds that contain fluorine and hydrogen atoms, and are the most common type of organofluorine compounds. Most are gases at room temperature and pressure. They are frequently used in air condit ...

is a colorless gas used primarily for closed-cell spray foam insulation. HFC-245fa is also known as pentafluoropropane and by its chemical name 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane.

Environmental Effects

Unlike CFC and

HCFC Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F). They are produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, ...

blowing agents formerly used for this purpose, it has no ozone depletion potential and is nearly non-toxic. Although it is intended to remain trapped within the foam insulation, it is practically non-biodegradable with a lifetime of 7.2 years when it eventually does escape into the atmosphere. It does have a high

global warming potential Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period, relative to carbon dioxide (). It is expressed as a multiple of warming caused by the same mass of carbon dioxide ( ...

of 950 (950 times the global warming effect of ). Honeywell refers to this as "acceptable" in their literature, but they don't include the actual number.

Economics

One of the disadvantages of R-245fa is its cost. In 2000, R-141b cost one US dollar per pound, whereas R-245fa cost $2.50 to $4.00 per pound. As of 2007, and prior to Sinochem's production it was already a high volume production chemical, with over 1 million pounds produced annually.

Manufacturing history

Pentafluoropropane is produced by

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

and in Asia by

Sinochem Sinochem Corporation () is a Chinese state-owned multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate primarily engaged in the production and trading of chemical industry, chemicals and fertilizer and oil exploration, e ...

. Honeywell markets HFC-245fa under the Enovate and Genetron 245fa brand names.

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal, Inc. was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company, created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and The Signal Companies. It purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and adopted the Honeywell name and iden ...

, who adopted the Honeywell name after acquiring it, decided in 1999 to provide a non ozone depleting blowing agent as an alternative for dichlorofluoroethane (HCFC-141b) and

trichlorofluoromethane Trichlorofluoromethane, also called freon-11, CFC-11, or R-11, is a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC). It is a colorless, faintly ethereal, and sweetish-smelling liquid that boils around room temperature. CFC-11 is a Class 1 ozone-depleting substance w ...

(CFC-11). Competitors Atofina and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

pursued strategies using other agents.

References

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External links

Honeywell's Enovate Homepage
Insulators Refrigerants Fluoroalkanes Hydrofluorocarbons

Environmental Effects

Economics

Manufacturing history

See also

References

External links