Danfoss is targeting the comfort and data center cooling markets with its new oil-free isobutane (R600a) Turbocor compressor, which is being shown for the first time at the Mostra Convegno Expocomfort (MCE) 2026 in Milan.
The Turbocor TNS385, so named because the compressor has a maximum cooling capacity of 385kW (109TR), has been under development since 2023, according to Frank Ford, Head of Sales and Marketing at Danfoss. During an interview at MCE 2026, which is being held March 24–27, Ford told NaturalRefrigerants.com that the compressor is designed for use in air-cooled chillers. He added that demand for a Turbocor compressor using natural refrigerants has come not just from OEMs.
“There are customers, both OEMs and end users, that we hear from directly,” said Ford. “There are some data center customers that are continuing to talk about naturals. This is what the market wants.”
The TNS385’s maximum cooling capacity of 385kW is its peak for comfort cooling applications, Ford noted. It can reach up to 500kW (142TR) of cooling capacity in a data center application because of the higher leaving chilled water temperatures.
“With a plurality of compressors, and you can easily have a 2MW [568TR] chiller with this compressor,” said Ford.
Data center cooling is largely dominated by chillers using synthetic refrigerants, including those equipped with Danfoss’s Turbocor compressor using R1234ze. However, natural refrigerants, including hydrocarbons, have carved out a small niche and interest in them could grow with new and more efficient compressors on the market.
“This is what the market wants.”
Frank Ford,
Head of Sales and Marketing at Danfoss
Regulation drives innovation
Danfoss began development of the isobutane Turbocor compressor in 2023, the same year the Universal Restriction Proposal was submitted to the European Chemicals Agency to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by the national authorities of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Ford said that a potential PFAS regulation was one of the drivers for Danfoss to develop a natural refrigerant-based Turbocor compressor.
“We’ve been watching the market a long time to understand if there was going to be a need for a high-capacity centrifugal compressor using natural solutions,” Ford said. “We were watching the regulatory environment, all of the PFAS discussions, [as well] to determine if it made sense to go natural at high capacity. The response from our customers and the market was yes.”
If a regulation banning the use of PFAS refrigerants were enacted it would impact Danfoss’s flagship Turbocor compressor, which uses R1234ze. That said, the isobutane Turbocor compressor was not designed to compete with the R1234ze model. Rather, Ford said, its competitors are other natural refrigerant-based compressors.
“If you’re taking isobutane and comparing the level of efficiency we can get out of it on the Turbocor platform, it’s substantially better than any other technology you can consider with natural refrigerants,” Ford said.
The TNS385 is still in the development phase but it has left the lab and is currently being evaluated in a larger chiller system used in a space-cooling application. Ford said more information on the pilot project, which is being conducted in Europe, would be released later this year. Danfoss is targeting commercial availability of the TNS385 in the fourth quarter of 2027.
