The ATMOsphere Podcast Network

Pharmaceutical company Takeda has announced that its new high-temperature butane–water (R600–R718) heat pump has commenced operation at its manufacturing facility in Vienna, which will “allow the generation of process steam completely without fossil fuel for the first time.” Read the full article here .

Nokia’s new R&D and manufacturing campus in Oulu, Finland, has “one of the world’s largest CO2 [R744] district heating and cooling plants,” according to the company, with the site producing enough thermal output to heat 20,000 homes. Oulu, with a population of 216,000, experiences temperatures below freezing for the majority of the winter. The CO2 system, designed in collaboration between Noki...

 The articles in the podcast are as follows: ⁠Hanon Systems Has Built More Than 1 Million CO2 E-Compressors for Electric Vehicles⁠ ⁠IAA Mobility 2025: Automakers Are Showing ‘High Interest’ in R290 for Electric Vehicles, Says ZF⁠ ⁠Johnson Controls’ 42MW Ammonia Heat Pump System to Deliver District Heating to 15,000 Homes in Zurich⁠ ⁠ECHA’s Updated PFAS Proposal Retains Most Restrictions on PFAS Re...

 A new study by Canadian researchers have found that the amount of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the atmosphere, formed by the oxidation of HFO-1234yf and other f-gases, is greatest in the summer and near urban areas, consistent with the leakage of HFO-1234yf from mobile air-conditioners (MAC).   The study – “Selective ultra-trace atmospheric passive sampling of gaseous perfluoroalkyl carboxylic a...

 As part of its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Italy’s DEM Supermarkets ⁠is installing⁠ CO2 (R744) refrigeration systems in all of its new stores, Italian manufacturer ⁠Arneg⁠ told ⁠NaturalRefrigerants.com⁠ .  DEM, founded in 2007, operates 27 sales outlets in the Lazio and Abruzzo regions. Recently, Arneg installed CO2 systems in three new DEM stores in the cities of Grottaferrata, San Ces...

 In an updated proposal to restrict environmentally polluting PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), five European countries raised whether “additional, complimentary, risk management” beyond the EU’s F-gas Regulation and the MAC (Mobile Air-Conditioning) Directive is justified to regulate f-gases that form the very persistent degradation product trifluoracetic acid (TFA). ⁠Read the full stor...

Automakers are showing “high interest” in propane (R290)-based thermal management systems for electric vehicles (EVs) according to Benedikt Schauder, Thermal Management Development Lead at ZF. The German automotive supplier first started developing “TherMaS,” a thermal management module (TMM) incorporating an R290 heat pump, for EVs in 2021, Schauder told NaturalRefrigerants.com in an interview at...

Integrating Energy Recovery’s PX G1300 pressure exchanger into a transcritical CO2 (R744) refrigeration system at a Hungarian hypermarket has increased system efficiency by up to 15%, according to a study by Italian OEM Epta Group. The demonstration study, conducted under the EU-funded ENOUGH Project, also highlighted the technology’s ability to support reliable system operation in ambient conditi...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced on August 20 that it has published an updated proposal from five European countries to restrict environmentally polluting PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), with most restrictions on PFAS refrigerants remaining the same but some refrigerant applications given a longer exemption. Read the full story on NaturalRefrigerants.com.

Automotive thermal management supplier Hanon Systems has announced that it has produced more than 1 million CO2 (R744) electric compressors for electric vehicles (EVs). The company has produced CO2 e-compressors at its factory in Palmela, Portugal, since 2019. The compressors are supplied to Volkswagen for its MEB platform, on which the ID model range and a number of the company’s other EVs are bu...

Johnson Controls has announced that it is building a “custom-made” 42MW (11,942TR) ammonia heat pump system using six “high-performance” screw compressors for Zurich that will deliver district heating to 15,000 homes. The heat pump will be used by Zurich’s Department of Waste Management and Recycling (ERZ), which is adding a third processing line to an existing waste incineration plant. As part of...

 This Expert Opinion column has been written by Amrit Robbins, CEO and Co-founder of Axiom Cloud , whose AI-powered refrigeration management software is used by grocery stores and cold storage facilities to enable predictive maintenance and early leak detection. Here, Robbins writes about the AIM (American Innovation and Manufacturing) Act and how two of its requirements will help prepare end user...

 The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), under a grant from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), is soliciting proposals from qualified third-party subcontractors to conduct a full risk assessment of residential monobloc air-to-water heat pumps (ATWHPs) using higher charges of A3 (flammable) refrigerants, including propane (R290), isobutane (R600a) and other hydrocarbon...

The articles in the podcast are as follows: ⁠ ATMO MAC: CO2 Compressor Developments, Transportation Refrigeration and a New Safety Concept for R290 Systems Highlight the Program⁠ ⁠IAA 2025: Automotive Suppliers Preparing Propane Thermal Management Modules for EVs⁠ ⁠Panasonic Will Be Able To Build 1.4 Million Propane Heat Pumps per Year at Newly Refurbished Czech Factory⁠ ⁠Australian Retailer Coles...

As part of its “aim to transition from high GWP to lower GWP (or natural) refrigerants by 2050,” Australian retailer Coles opened 50 natural refrigerant stores in the past year, which includes new construction and retrofits, according to the group’s 2025 sustainability report. It increased the number of supermarkets with natural refrigerant systems from 78 to 104 and the number of liquor stores fr...

On November 18, 2018, industrial designer John O’Connor went to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to discuss CoolSculpting (the brand name for cryolipolysis), a fat-freezing method to reduce fat thickness in treated areas. He was invited by former colleague Ellen Sheets, a medical doctor. He found the CoolSculpting process to be “pretty clever,” he said in an interview with NaturalRefrigera...

IAA Mobility 2025 is a four-day event in Munich designed to showcase the automotive industry’s future, and when it comes to natural refrigerants in electric vehicles (EVs), several suppliers are looking to propane (R290). Suppliers such as ZF and Nidec AMEC are developing thermal management modules (TMM) employing propane for EVs primarily using in-house components. The idea is that these packaged...

In hot climates a “novel technology” could reduce the energy consumption of commercial CO2 (R744) refrigeration systems by up to 14% compared to standard setups, according to new research from the University of Southern Denmark (USD). The concept integrates a pressure booster device and an air-cooled gas cooler installed behind the existing heat rejection component and replaces the high-pressure e...

Panasonic has announced the reopening of its “giga factory” in Pilsen, the Czech Republic, which will be able to produce 1.4 million propane (R290) residential and commercial heat pumps for the European market by 2030. The company said it spent €320 million ($373.8 million) expanding and refurbishing the facility, with the investment increasing production by 250% and the total floor space to 140,0...

Berlin will once again be the epicenter for all things natural refrigerants in mobile air-conditioning (MAC) this September when the ATMO MAC Summit 2025 × TU Berlin kicks off September 23.  ATMOsphere, the publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com, is organizing the two-day event in partnership with Technische Universität (TU) Berlin’s Department of Heat Transfer and Heat Conversion. It will be held o...

A new law enacted by Illinois and a similar law passed in April in New Mexico, which both authorize significant regulations of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), specifically exclude refrigerants that are deemed acceptable by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Both Illinois and New Mexico use the scientifically endorsed definition of PFAS that includes many f-gas refrigerants...

The articles in the podcast are as follows: 1. ⁠Broad Adoption of Industrial Heat Pumps in the U.S. Could Prevent More Than 77,000 Premature Deaths, Study Finds⁠ 2. ⁠ Natural Resources Canada Announces Funding for Industrial Energy Efficiency Projects⁠ 3. ⁠Chile to Launch Pilot Project Providing Public Funding for Transcritical CO2 Heat Pumps in Industrial Refrigeration⁠ 4. ⁠Spheros to Debut R290-...

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has launched the third round of its Industrial Facility Track, offering financial assistance to Canadian manufacturing facilities for projects that enhance energy efficiency, such as installing new zero-emissions heating and refrigeration systems. Companies can receive a maximum of CA$5 million (US$3.62 million/€3.11 million) per proposal to cover up to 50% of elig...

Spheros, a German manufacturer of thermal management systems for buses and coaches, has announced its plans to unveil a new propane (R290)-based air-conditioning unit at Busworld 2025 in Brussels this October, expanding its lineup of natural refrigerant systems. The REVO-E R290 is a fully electric emissions-free rooftop system and is the latest addition to Spheros’s REVO-E series, which has includ...

Chile has announced a pilot project that will see transcritical CO2 (R744) heat pumps used in industrial refrigeration, with funding provided by the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund. The project will be developed by the Chilean Ministry of the Environment’s Ozone Unit and implemented with support from the United Nations Development Programme. A public call for funding will be announced shortl...