Barbara Haviland Minor

Barbara Haviland Minor is an American chemical engineer who has worked at DuPont (between 1981 and 2015) and Chemours (since 2015).[1] She develops new refrigerants to be used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems,[1] in Europe, North America, Australia and other countries.[2] As of 2018, 50% of all new vehicles produced by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are believed to use her refrigerant, HFO-1234yf,[3] an important contribution to countering global warming.[1]

Barbara Haviland Minor
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBucknell University
AwardsDupont Fellow, Perkin Medal
Scientific career
InstitutionsDuPont, Chemours
External video
“CCN Video: HFOs in Australia”, Interview with Barbara Minor, 2015

Minor was one of five women to be named a Dupont Fellow in 2014,[4] the first year that the company named women to its highest technical level.[5] She was awarded the Perkin Medal in 2018.[1]

Life

Minor graduated from Bucknell University in 1981[6] with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering.[1][7]

Career

Minor worked at DuPont from 1981 to 2015, when she moved to the spinoff company Chemours[1] in Wilmington, Delaware.[8] Minor develops new refrigerants for air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Her work supports the phasing out of ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and of hydrofluorocarbons that contribute to global warming.[1]

Minor was the technical leader for the research group at DuPont that developed HFO-1234yf,[4][9] a hydrofluoroolefin that can reduce emissions from automotive air conditioning by more than 99%.[1] HFO-1234yf has a much lower global warming potential (GWP) than the previously-used R-134a: its 100-year GWP was originally calculated as 4,[10] and later recalculated as <1,[11][12] compared to 1430 for R-134a. HFO-1234yf also has a lower atmospheric lifetime (11 days compared to 14 years), and higher energy efficiency under many conditions.[10]

The Dupont team worked jointly with researchers at Honeywell.[9][10] As a replacement for R-134a, HFO-1234yf is marketed as Opteon yf by Dupont[4] (later Chemours),[13] and as Solstice yf by Honeywell.[14] As of 2018, 50% of new vehicles produced by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are believed to use HFO-1234yf for air conditioning.[3]

Minor helped to develop both the XP (2014) and XL (2016) lines of refrigerant for Dupont and Chemours.[15] In addition to alternative refrigerants for use in automobiles,[16] more ecologically-friendly refrigerants have been developed for supermarket refrigeration systems (XP40)[17] commercial freezers (XL20),[18] reach-in coolers and freezers (R450A),[19] beverage coolers (HFO-1234yf),[20][21] large building chillers (XP30),[15] transport units with self-contained refrigeration (XP44)[15][21][8] direct expansion air conditioning, chilled water air conditioning and heat pumps (XL41, XL55).[22] Minor is also a co-inventor of Dupont's ISCEON MO99 (R438A), a possible replacement for R22, and Suva 95 (R508B), a possible replacement for R13 and R503.[7][23] A number of these refrigerants involve HFO/HFC blends.[2][24]

Minor holds more than 160 patents in the United States, for her work on refrigerants, cleaning agents, and aerosol propellants.[1][25][26]

She is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). She has chaired the AHRI's Research group and the AHRTI's Technology and Steering committees.[27]

Awards
  • 2003: featured DuPont scientist, Woman Engineer magazine[28]
  • 2010: DuPont Sustainable Growth Award for HFO-1234yf[10]
  • 2014: Dupont Fellow[7][8][4][5]
  • 2016: Distinguished Service Award, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)[28]
  • 2017: Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, Bucknell University College of Engineering and the Bucknell Engineering Alumni Association[28]
  • 2018: Perkin Medal[1][21][29][30]

References
  1. "SCI Perkin Medal". Science History Institute. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  2. "Q&A Barbara Minor" (PDF). Ecolibrium: The official journal of AIRAH. 14 (7). August 2014. pp. 25–27. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  3. "Ask the expert: How many light duty OEs use HFO-1234yf refrigerant?". Vehicle Service Pros. May 15, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  4. "DuPont names seven new DuPont Fellows". DuPont Media Center. July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  5. "DuPont engineer earns top honor". The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  6. "Barbara Haviland Minor '81, chemical engineering Keeping Her Cool". Bucknell University. April 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  7. "Minor is major influence for DuPont". Cooling Post. July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  8. Salitsky, Cynthia (May 18, 2018). "The Chemours Company's Barbara H. Minor awarded prestigious Perkin medal: Chemical engineer to be honored by the Society of Chemical Industry". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  9. Minor, Barbara; Spatz, Mark (2008). "HFO-1234yf Low GWP Refrigerant Update (Paper 937)". International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  10. "Recognizing excellence: Development of HFO-1234yf as the next generation refrigerant for the automotive industry" (PDF). 2010 DuPont Excellence Awards sustainable growth. 2010. p. 3. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  11. "IPCC confirms HFO GWPs are less than 1". Cooling Post. February 3, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  12. Scientific assessment of ozone depletion: 2014 full report. World Meteorological Organization Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project—Report No. 55. 2014. p. 551.
  13. "Opteon™ XL10 (R-1234yf) Refrigerant". Chemours. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  14. "Honeywell and Chemours Announce New Manufacturing Plants for HFO 1234yf". Aspen Refrigerants. June 12, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  15. "The Chemours Company's Barbara H. Minor awarded prestigious Perkin medal". NASDAQ. May 17, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  16. "Chemours Adds New Low GWP Refrigerants to Range". ACR Journal. April 11, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  17. "Ahold Completes Retrofit of Over 175 Supermarkets to Opteon™ XP40". PRNewsWire. September 27, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  18. Minor, Barbara Haviland; Shah, Sonali; Simoni, Luke (2016). "Testing of HFO Refrigerant with Less Than 150 G WP in a Commercial Freezer (Paper 1729)". International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  19. "Spanish store first to test new R404A "drop-in"". Cooling post. October 5, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  20. Minor, Barbara Haviland; Montoya, Carlos; Kasa, Francisco Sandoval (2010). "HFO-1234yf Performance in a beverage cooler (Paper 1116)". International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  21. "Refrigerant engineer honoured". Cooling Post. May 17, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  22. "Chemours offers new low GWP blends". Cooling Post. October 11, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  23. "No R22? Are service blends a viable option?". Cooling Post. November 18, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  24. "Refrigerant Report 18" (PDF). Bitzer GmbH. December 11, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  25. "R1234yf inventor Barbara H Minor honoured with prestigious Science of Chemical Industry award". VASA. May 24, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  26. "Patents by inventor Barbara Haviland Minor". Justia Patents. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  27. "Join the R1234yf elite" (PDF). SightGlass News. April 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  28. "Bucknell Engineering Alumni Association Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award 2017". Bucknell University. November 4, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  29. "The Chemours Company's Barbara H. Minor awarded prestigious Perkin Medal". Chemours Investor Relations. May 17, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  30. "SCI Awards Perkin Medal to Chemours' Barbara Minor". Chemical Processing. May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
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