Red tape entangles Kaneohe inventor

Kaneohe inventor Richard Maruya thought his years of hard work had finally paid off when the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 approved his formula for an environmentally friendly refrigerant for use in home appliances and air conditioners.

Winning the EPA’s endorsement would open the door for his product in household applications and pave the way for its eventual use in other areas, including the lucrative automobile air-conditioning market, Maruya reasoned. He partnered with a Houston company to manufacture and market the product, a hydrocarbon blend designed to replace the current generation of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants that contribute high amounts of greenhouse gases that are harmful to the atmosphere.

Maruya, 65, gained subsequent approvals for the product, designated R-441A by the EPA, for use in vending machines, wine coolers and stand-alone retail refrigeration units. He hired independent laboratories on the mainland to document the reliability and efficiency of his product in automobiles and appliances under extreme conditions. The tests confirmed that R-441A, a blend of propane, butane, isobutane and ethane, was able to do the job with one-fourth the amount of an HFC refrigerant.

His work earned him the EPA’s 2008 regional Environmental Achievement Award and recognition by the environmental group Greenpeace.

But nearly five years after getting the initial EPA approval, Maruya has not been able to sell a drop of R-441A.

The reasons for the lack of progress are varied, ranging from the bureaucratic federal regulatory process to inertia on the part of U.S. refrigerator and air conditioner makers, Maruya said. His solution was to chart a new course — for Japan.

"I would love to have this used in America, but like they say, you snooze, you lose," Maruya said. "If the rest of the world will take it, then that’s where I’ll go."

Maruya last year signed a deal with a Japa­nese company to represent him there. And the relationship has already begun to produce results. The company organized a meeting with representatives from Japa­nese automobile and appliance makers.

During the meeting an official from an electric car association peppered him with highly technical questions about R-441A, including how it would affect the sensors in the air-conditioning system of a Nissan Leaf, which are set to run with higher-pressure refrigerants. Maruya said the exchange was encouraging.

A taxi company in Yoko­hama also was intrigued, and decided to used R-441A in some of its vehicles last summer on a trial basis. The company, which has Nissan hybrid and electric cars in its fleet, found that it could extend the range of the vehicles due to the reduction in load on the air-conditioning systems achieved with R-441A.

"In most cars the air conditioning absorbs about 10 to 30 percent of the energy. And they have to run AC in taxis in Japan during the summer or people won’t ride in them," Maruya said. "With R-441A there is less resistance on the compressor, which means less strain on the motor."

Maruya will work with the same taxi company again this summer, but this time he will document the findings.

Back in the U.S., Maruya is having a much more difficult time getting the U.S. auto industry interested in using R-441A. While the EPA has cleared it for use in various types of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, it hasn’t done so for automotive air-conditioning systems.

One of the EPA’s stated concerns is the flammability of R-441A. But the amount of refrigerant needed is so small, about 5 ounces, that there is little fire threat, according to Maruya. He teamed up with another inventor to develop a pressure valve to seal off the refrigerant in the event of a leak.

Maruya applied with EPA eight years ago for approval to use R-441A in automobile air-conditioning systems, but he has yet to complete the process. He noted that a joint venture between Dupont and Honeywell that also sought approval for use of a hydrocarbon refrigerant in automobiles received approval more than a year ago even though they submitted their application after Maruya.

Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace, said the EPA typically favors large companies over garage inventors, whom the agency views as risky.

"DuPont has the system wired. They’ve done this so many times, they know how to get things through," Davies said.

The EPA division in charge of evaluating refrigerant applications is "a pretty risk-averse crowd," Davies said. "With a guy like Maruya, they feel like they’re taking on too much risk."

Davies also said the EPA doesn’t feel an urgency to promote widespread use of hydrocarbon refrigerants because it is not mandated by law. Chlorofluorocarbons, by comparison, were quickly taken out of circulation when they were banned in the 1990s under the Clean Air Act because of their deteriorating effect on the earth’s ozone layer, he said.