United States.
The Chemours Co. announced that it is investing in large-scale manufacturing to expand the offering of its Opteon refrigerant family. Chemours will invest $230 million over three years to build a new facility at its Corpus Christi headquarters in Ingleside, Texas, with commissioning expected in the third quarter of 2018. This investment will triple the capacity of Opteon products.
The new headquarters will use an innovative, patented process to manufacture opteon YF (HFO-1234yf), a refrigerant with 99.9% lower global warming potential than the refrigerant that was designed to replace it. Opteon YF is used in automotive air conditioning and refrigerant mixtures for a range of applications.
The company said this investment will create the world's largest hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) manufacturing facility, and its location will allow Chemours to efficiently serve market growth in North America and Europe, as well as the rest of the world.
The company estimates that 40 million cars using HFO-1234yf will be on the road by the end of 2017, growing to 140 million by the end of 2020. The company predicts that the refrigeration systems of 1,000 supermarkets and retail spaces worldwide will use opteon XP40 by the end of 2016, growing to a maximum of 10,000 systems by the end of 2020.
