CFC-Free Rigid Polyurethane Foam Insulation Products

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the commercially successful CFC-free rigid polyurethane insulating products now established in the UK market, which have been made available because of the need to move away from the use of potent ozone depleting CFC blowing agents used for the past 35 years. Detailed evidence is included to support the claim that the performance of these new products and their life expectancy is equal to that of their CFC based counterparts. It shows that because of the great diversity of products and applications, that currently five different blowing agents are used since whilst many ozone benign blowing agents exist, none matches the other unique features of the CFCs R11 and R12 entirely. Nevertheless it is demonstrated that the products now in use in the UK, by comparison with their CFC counterparts, are playing a significant part in eliminating the threat to the ozone layer, whilst at the same time being able to continue to make their significant contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions, believed to be the main cause of global warming.