Trane eNews | Ultra-Low-GWP HFO R514A Refrigerant for Trane® CenTraVac® Centrifugal Chillers Widely Accepted Across High-Performance Infrastructure and Buildings in Mainland and Hong Kong

Ultra-Low-GWP HFO R514A Refrigerant for Trane® CenTraVac® Centrifugal Chillers Widely Accepted Across High-Performance Infrastructure and Buildings in Mainland and Hong Kong

As the building industry pursues greater energy efficiency, sustainability, and long-term asset value, refrigerant selection has become an increasingly important consideration in various chiller plant designing solutions.

Over the past decade, R514A has become an established next-generation ultra-low-global-warming-potential (GWP) hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant for high-performance centrifugal chiller applications across the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong. As an alternative to traditional hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, it has been deployed across diverse sectors, such as government facilities, transportation infrastructure, commercial and mixed-use developments, healthcare institutions, educational campuses, data centers, and advanced manufacturing projects.

In Hong Kong, R514A also supports the transition toward lower-GWP HFO refrigerants under the Ozone Layer Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, which aims to phase down HFC consumption. The increasing deployment of R514A reflects the industry’s focus on balancing cooling performance, reliability, and environmental considerations in long-term building and infrastructure planning.

Widespread Deployment Across Mainland

R514A has been widely adopted across the Chinese Mainland, with more than 2,000 Trane^® CenTraVac^® centrifugal chillers utilizing HFO R514A deployed since 2017, representing over 4 million RT of cooling capacity. These installations span a wide range of sectors, covering major urban transportation infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) computing centers, national healthcare facilities, regional energy stations, semiconductors, and other advanced high-tech applications.

Notable references include Nanning Wuxu International Airport Terminal 3, Guangzhou Metro Lines 3 & 5, Suzhou Rail Transit Line 7, Guangzhou International Financial City Starting Area Energy Station, Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Aquatic Sports Arena, Huazhang Beijing No. 1 Intelligent Computing Center, National Medical Center Construction Project in Tianjin, and multiple large-scale BYD production bases, along with numerous other new-energy and semiconductor manufacturing projects.

The breadth of these deployments demonstrates R514A’s ability to support high-performance cooling across mission-critical industrial and infrastructure applications.

Established Market Presence in Hong Kong

Since its introduction to Hong Kong in 2017, Trane^® CenTraVac^® chillers with HFO R514A

have earned multiple industry recognitions, including the CIC Green Product Certification Platinum rating in 2017, Grand Award in the Building Products & Technologies Category at the Green Building Award 2019, and the extension of the Platinum rating to the full CenTraVac^® HFO series in 2021.

So far, more than 160 Trane^® CenTraVac^® centrifugal chillers utilizing HFO R514A refrigerant, representing over 125,000 RT of cooling capacity, have been installed in Hong Kong, serving government and public-sector facilities, transportation infrastructure, universities, hospitals, major industrial and commercial properties, etc.

Among the key customers are the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), MTR Corporation Limited, Airport Authority Hong Kong, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Swire Properties, Hongkong Land, and Chinachem Group. Representative projects include iconic, award-winning buildings such as Queensway Government Offices, Alexandra House, One Island East, and Two Taikoo Place.

Why R514A

Designed for low-pressure operation and applied in Trane^® CenTraVac^® chillers, R514A supports the “first charge is the last charge” philosophy, helping minimize refrigerant leakage throughout the system lifecycle. With an ultra-low-GWP of less than 2, among the lowest in the industry, and zero ozone depletion potential (ODP), R514A advances long-term sustainability goals while maintaining efficient, reliable cooling performance.

Moreover, the Trane^® CenTraVac^® series with HFO R514A refrigerant have become the first approved E&M product approved under the Construction Product Accreditation Scheme (CPAS) by the Building Technology Research Institute (BTRi), and have also been officially accepted by the HKSAR Development Bureau for capital works projects.

Conclusion

The widespread deployment of R514A across the Chinese Mainland and its established presence in Hong Kong reflect strong acceptance among high-performance infrastructure and building sectors in both markets. Backed by successful applications across public transportation infrastructure, commercial developments, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, data centers, and advanced manufacturing projects, R514A is well positioned to remain a vital choice for centrifugal chillers to provide high-performance and trustable ultra-low-GWP cooling and support long-term sustainability.

About Trane Hong Kong

Recognized as one of the leading air-conditioning providers in Hong Kong, Trane Hong Kong is a division of TYS Limited, a joint venture between Trane Technologies and Jardines. The other divisions of TYS are Trane Service Hong Kong and Hong Kong Air-conditioning Parts Centre.

For more information, visit www.tranehk.com.

Trane Service Hong Kong

Hong Kong Air-conditioning Parts Centre

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