PREFIXES, DECODING

AND CODING OF
REFRIGERANTS
 PREFIXES OF REFRIGERANT
Some of the most common refrigerants’ prefixes are

components Prefixes ‫االسم الكيميائي‬

Cl, F and C CFC Chlorofluorocarbon ‫كلوروفلوروكاربون‬

H, Cl, F and C HCFC Hydrochlorofluorocarbon ‫هايدروكلوروفلوروكاربون‬
H, Br, F and C HBFC Hydrobromofluorocarbon ‫هايدرويروموفلوروكاربون‬
H, F and C HFC Hydrofluorocarbon ‫هايدروفلوروكاربون‬
H and C HC Hydrocarbon ‫هايدروكاربون‬
F and C PFC Perfluorocarbon ‫هيدروكاربونات مشبعة‬
Br, Cl (in some), F, Halon Halon ‫الهالونات‬
H (in some), C
HCFC
Hydrogen
H

Chlorine
Cl

Florian
HCFC
F

Carbone
C
DECODING OF REFRIGERANT NUMBER

The prefix describes the kinds of atoms in a

particular molecule, and the next step is to
calculate the number of each type of atom.
The key to the code is to add 90 to the
number; the result shows the number of
C, H, and F atoms
CARBON BONDS
Every carbon atoms have 4 bonds, the following equation can
be used to calculate the number of bonds in one or more
carbon atoms
#Bonds= 2×#C+2
If there are two carbon atoms the number of bonds are equals
to
#Bonds= 2×2+2= 6
Foe 3 C
#Bonds= 2×3+2=8
And so on
EXAMPLE
HFC- 22
Ref-# + 90 = C H F
22 + 90 = 1 1 2
#C= 1
#H=1
#F=2
#Bonds= 2×1+2=4
The remains bonds of C should have Chlorine atoms
#Cl= #bonds - #H - #F
#Cl= 4-1-2 = 4 – 3 = 1
Chemical formal is CHClF2
EXAMPLE
HCFC- 141
Ref-# + 90 = C H F
141 + 90 = 2 3 1
#C= 2
#H=3
#F=1
The remains bonds of C should have Chlorine atoms
#Cl= #bonds - #H - #F
#Cl= 2×2+2-3-1 = 6 – 4 = 2
Then What is the chemical composition of
HCFC-141
HCFC-141a
and
HCFC-141b ???
The “letter ” at the end describes how these atoms are
arranged; different “isomers” contain the same
atoms, but they are arranged differently.
R-141 CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ATOMS
90-3= 87
C 90=35.5+35.5+19 1+1+1= 3
F
C 19 1
Cl

H
Cl

1
H 35.5

H
35.5 1

C H F Cl
12 1 19 35.5
R-141 CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ATOMS
55.5-37.5= 18
C 55.5=1+35.5+19 35.5+1+1= 37.5
F
C 19 35.5
Cl

H
Cl

1 1
H

H
35.5 1

C H F Cl
12 1 19 35.5
R-141 CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ATOMS
72-22= 51
C 72=1+35.5+35.5 19+1+1= 21
F
C 35.5 19
Cl

H
Cl

1 1
H

H
35.5 1

C H F Cl
12 1 19 35.5
 72=35.5+35.5+1 1+19+1=21
55.5= 1+35.5+19 35.5+1+1= 37.5 1 1
1 1
H H
H H

35.5 Cl C C Cl 35.5 35.5 Cl C C F 19

CHFClCH2Cl F H Cl H CHCl2CH2Cl
19 1 35.5 1
55.5-37.5=18 72-21=51

90=19+35.5+35.5 1+1+1=3
1
19

F H
HCFC-141

HCFC-141a
35.5 Cl C C H 1

HCFC-141b
Cl H
35.5
1
90-3=87
CFCl2CH3
CFC-12 does not have any isomers, since
it contains only one C. In addition, there
is no need to number the carbons
MOLECULES WITH THREE-C ATOMS
Molecules with three-C atoms are more complicated to name,
such as HCFC-225ca.
The first letter designates the atoms attached to the middle C
atom,
and the second letter designates decreasing symmetry in
atomic weights of atoms attached to the outside C atoms.
Unlike 2C chains, however, the most symmetric distribution is
the “a” isomer, instead of omitting the letter entirely.
 The code letters for the atoms on middle C are
Cl Cl F

C C C C C C C C C

Cl F F

a b c

Cl
H H

C C C C C C C C C

H F H

d e f
EXAMPLE
HCFC-225ca
Ref-# + 90 = C H F
225 + 90 = 3 1 5
#C= 3
#H= 1
#F = 5
The remains bonds of C should have Chlorine atoms
#Cl= #bonds - #H - #F
#Cl= 2×3+2-1-5 = 8 – 6= 2
THE LETTER C MEANS
57 72 72-57=15
F F
19
Cl
19 35.5

F Cl
19
C C C 35.5

F F H
19 19 1

CClF2CF2CHClF
CF3CF2CHCL2

HCFC-225cb HCFC-225ca
REFRIGERANTS CODING
CFC-12 HFC-329 R-717
CFC-13B1 HC-601
HCFC-22 R507 HC-1150
HCFC-123 HC-170
PFC-218 PFC-218 R407A
Since a large number of refrigerants have been
developed over the years for a wide variety of
applications, a numbering system has been
adopted to designate various refrigerants.
From the number one can get some useful
information about the type of refrigerant, its
chemical composition, molecular weight etc.
SERIES NUMBERING FOR REFRIGERANT
CLASSES

This numbering system also allows refrigerants to be grouped into series.

Below is an explanation of the various refrigerant groups.

000 Methane-based
100 Ethane-based
200 Propane-based
300 Cyclic organic
400 Zeotropes
500 Azeotropes
600 Organic
700 Inorganic
1000 Unsaturated organic
 METHANE, ETHAN, PROPANE BASES , CYCLIC
ORGANIC AND UNSATURATED ORGANIC
The number assigned to each refrigerant is related to its chemical composition
and the system has been formalized as ASHRAE Standard 34. The numbering
system rules are as follows:

1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms
 EXAMPLES
For example CHF3
The refrigerant is saturated since the number of atoms equals to
the number of carbon bonds
1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

000 1-1=0 1+1=2 3 ---- ------

Since the refrigerant contains C, H and F the prefixes is HFC-23

 CHCl 2CF 3

1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

000 2-1=1 1+1=2 3 ---- ------

HCFC – 123
 CF 3CF 2CF 3

1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

000 3-1=2 0+1=1 8 ---- ------

• It is a Per fluorinated refrigerant thus, the prefixes is PFC, and the refrigerant is
PFC-218
 CBrF3

1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

000 1-1=0 0+1=1 3 Br 1

FC-13 B1
 C 2 H6

1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

000 2-1=1 6+1=7 0 --- ---

HC- 170
ZEOTROPIC AND AZEOTROPIC BLENDS.
As a special case,
the R-400 series is made up of zeotropic blends (those where the boiling point of
constituent compounds differs enough to lead to changes in relative
concentration because of fractional distillation)
and the R-500 series is made up of so-called azeotropic blends.

The rightmost digit is assigned arbitrarily by

ASHRAE, an industry organization.
MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIC COMPONENTS
Miscellaneous organic compounds shall be assigned numbers in the 600 series in
decadal groups
For the saturated hydrocarbons with 4 to 8 carbon atoms, the number assigned shall
be 600 plus the number of carbon atoms minus 4
Example

Butane CH3CH2CH2CH3
HC – 600+( 4-4)== HC-600

Isobutene (CH3)2CHCH2CH3
HC – 600 +(5-4)= HC - 601
ORGANIC COMPONENTS
These are designated by number 7 followed by the molecular weight of the refrigerant

Example NH3
R-700+( 14+3)= R-717

H2O
R-718

CO2
R-744
UNSATURATED REFRIGERANT
Unsaturated hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that have double or triple covalent
bonds between adjacent carbon atoms
Example C2H4
Number of carbon bonds is 6, number of atoms are 4, 2 bonds are free

C H

C H
? ?
H

H
 Propene CH3CH=CH 2
Carbon bonds = 2×3+2 = 8
# atoms 6 unsaturated
1000 100 10 1 Br #
Unsaturated C-1 H+1 F If the refrigerant contains Number of
organic bromine atoms bromine atoms

1 3-1=2 6+1=7 0 --- --

HC- 1270
Thank You
For
Listening