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New dawn for fluorine refrigerants

July 27, 2010 - 00:00 GMT

KEYWORDS: Fluorspar , fluorine , chemical , refrigerants , fluorochemicals

With the phase-out of HFC-134a from mobile air conditioning under way, western chemical producers are pioneering a new range of fluorine refrigerants vying to fill their predecessor’s role

Putting figures to China’s production and export of commodities can be tricky, but nevertheless a general pattern that of increasing production and decreasing exports has emerged for acidspar, the main feedstock for hydrofluoric acid which itself is used to manufacture a host of other chemicals (see flowchart).



The USGS reports that China produced 1.25m. tonnes of acidspar in 2000 and industry sources estimate that around 850,000 tonnes was exported. By 2008 China’s production of acidspar had increased 52% to 1.9m. tonnes, but only 580,000 tonnes of this was exported.

That is not to say that all of China’s exports have decreased. If exports of acidspar’s derivative products are also considered (on a CaF2 contained basis), then exports are actually increasing: but it is exports of value-added products that are growing (Table 1), and this is changing the global fluorochemical marketplace....

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