The 2024 China Heat Pump Forum (CHPF), held in Shanghai, August 6–8, showed the expanding role of natural refrigerants in China’s heat pump market.
Organized by the China Heat Pump Alliance (CHPA), the event gathered more than 1,500 delegates and featured more than 100 exhibitors, underscoring the industry’s commitment to sustainable heating technologies.
Jan Dusek, Co-Founder and COO of ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com, was among the event’s speakers.
“It was an honor for ATMOsphere to contribute to the CHPF 2024 in Shanghai and share the latest on policy, market and technology trends regarding natural refrigerants,” said Dusek.
In his presentation, Dusek emphasized the increasing opportunities for natural refrigerants like propane (R290) and CO2 (R744) within China’s burgeoning heat pump sector. He noted that while China’s domestic market has yet to fully embrace natural refrigerants due to challenges such as consumer awareness, technician training and product range reliability, significant progress is being made.
The CHPF exhibition provided a platform for both domestic and international companies to display their latest technologies, with several showcasing those using natural refrigerants.
German manufacturer Wilo promoted its pump for residential R290 hydronic heat pumps, while Danfoss presented its range of propane and isobutane (R600a) products. Italian compressor manufacturer Dorin also displayed its transcritical CO2 compressors. In a recent interview with NaturalRefrigerants.com, Lucy Luo, Lead Sales Representative at Shanghai Dorin Compressor Sales, said the company sold 1,000 transcritical CO2 compressors in 2023.
NatRefs manufacturing in China
Dusek underscored the strategic importance of China in the global heat pump market, noting that several Chinese manufacturers, including industry giants Midea and Haier, have already launched R290 heat pumps in Europe. China is also a major manufacturing hub for several European brands that manufacture R290 heat pumps for domestic hot water.
Furthermore, compressor manufacturers like Shanghai Highly and GMCC (part of Midea Group) are actively supplying R290 and R744 compressors to export-oriented manufacturers in China.
“Chinese companies are already supplying thousands of hydrocarbon and CO2 compressors for residential heat pumps in markets such as Europe, Australia and Japan,” Dusek said. “Ambitious policy in Europe will drive this trend in the coming years. The opportunity for China is to stay on the cutting edge of technological development and to accelerate the transition to natural refrigerants in the domestic market.”
“Both the international deployment of thousands of commercial CO2 heat pumps and the current domestic development of large-capacity CO2 heat pumps for district heating is a promising step in the right direction,” he added.
“The opportunity for China is to stay on the cutting edge of technological development and to accelerate the transition to natural refrigerants in the domestic market.”
Jan Dusek, ATMOsphere
Beyond heat pumps, interest in natural refrigerants is growing across China’s commercial and industrial refrigeration sectors. For example, China-based Bingshan Group now has several R744 installations in ice rinks, cold storage facilities and food retail sites. The company also has plans for new CO2-based projects in the coming years.
