Honeywell has started operations at its new $300 million plant in Geismar, where the company will produce an automotive refrigerant commercially sold as Solstice yf.
Honeywell says the mobile refrigerants produced at the site can reduce the greenhouse gas impact of standard refrigerants now used in most vehicles by more than 99%. The plant will be the world’s largest site for producing Solstice yf’s, says Honeywell’s Automotive Refrigerants Business Director Rick Winick.
“As we have successfully converted our customers’ fleets in the U.S. and Europe, this new capacity will enable Honeywell to help additional countries meet their commitments to transition to next-generation, environmentally preferable mobile air conditioning refrigerants,” Winick says.
The mobile refrigerant is currently being adopted for use in 20 million vehicles, and that figure is expected to reach 40 million vehicles by year’s end, the company says.
Nearly every automaker plans to use the refrigerant in at least one of their U.S. models, Honeywell adds. Global adoption of the refrigerant is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of permanently removing more than 30 million cars from the road.
Honeywell created a central hub in Louisiana to manufacture its portfolio of Solstice products, investing $915 million in modernization projects at its facilities across the state.
The projects were announced in 2013 and created a combined 3,311 construction jobs in the state since that time.
