CO2 Makes a Brief Appearance
CO2 – or carbon dioxide – has been used as refrigerant for cooling and freezing since approximately 1870, and was particularly popular with the military and with the shipping industry because it was neither toxic nor flammable.
But, in the 1940s, CO2 disappeared from the market, mainly owing to technical problems. Containing the high-pressure charge inside the system was problematic, and leaks were common. Besides, the new “wonder working fluids” CFC and HCFC had come on the market and, backed by a prosperous chemical industry, proved tough competition for the old CO2 technology.
Both CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) and HCFC (hydrochlofluorocarbon) contain chlorine – a chemical that later in the 1970s was proved to be a strong ozone-depleting substance.
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