EUROPE: Following news that air conditioning manufacturer Daikin was to adopt the 'mildly flammable' refrigerant R32 in future air conditioning models in Japan, the company's European subsidiary has admitted that the refrigerant could also be introduced here.
The response comes after Daikin's headquarters in Japan announced that all models of residential air conditioners launched in Japan from autumn 2012 would be charged with R32, and its use expanded to all commercial air conditioning equipment in the future.

In a statement to ACR News, Daikin Europe, which supplies equipment to the market through factories in Ostend and the Czech Republic, said 'R32 certainly has a potential for the European market, however we have to make sure that all aspects of the product life-cycle, for example training for installers and availability of R32 cylinders are in place before R32 can be launched in Europe. All these aspects take time, so we are not able to tell you at this stage from when we will launch R32 models in Europe.'

R32 is a single component, zero ODP gas with a GWP of 550, significantly less than R410A's 1,980. It is classified as A2L, or mildly flammable, under ASHRAE classifications.

Ironically, the current refrigerant of choice for air conditioning, R410A, is a mixture of R32 and R125 - the R125 suppressing R32's flammability - but pure R32 is more efficient.