Barbara Haviland Minor is an American chemical engineer who has worked at DuPont (between 1981 and 2015) and

Chemours Chemours (, ) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 2015 as a spin-off from DuPont. It has its corporate headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. History In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to ...

(since 2015). She develops new

refrigerants A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Refrigerants are heavily regulated d ...

to be used in

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

and refrigeration systems, in Europe, North America, Australia and other countries. As of 2018, 50% of all new vehicles produced by

original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

s (OEMs) are believed to use her refrigerant,

HFO-1234yf 2,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, HFO-1234yf, is a hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) with the formula CH2=CFCF3. It is also designated R-1234yf as the first of a new class of refrigerants: it is marketed under the name Opteon YF by Chemours and as Solstice YF ...

, an important contribution to countering

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Minor was one of five women to be named a Dupont Fellow in 2014, the first year that the company named women to its highest technical level. She was awarded the

Perkin Medal The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the ...

in 2018.

Life

Minor graduated from

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering.

Career

Minor worked at DuPont from 1981 to 2015, when she moved to the spinoff company

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. Minor develops new

for

and refrigeration systems. Her work supports the phasing out of ozone depleting

chlorofluorocarbons Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and propa ...

and

hydrochlorofluorocarbons Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and propa ...

, and of

hydrofluorocarbons Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are man-made organic compounds that contain fluorine and hydrogen atoms, and are the most common type of organofluorine compounds. Most are gases at room temperature and pressure. They are frequently used in air conditi ...

that contribute to

. Minor was the technical leader for the research group at DuPont that developed

, a

hydrofluoroolefin Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) are unsaturated organic compounds composed of hydrogen, fluorine and carbon. These organofluorine compound are of interest as refrigerants. Unlike traditional hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), whic ...

that can reduce emissions from automotive air conditioning by more than 99%. HFO-1234yf has a much lower

global warming potential Global warming potential (GWP) is the heat absorbed by any greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, as a multiple of the heat that would be absorbed by the same mass of carbon dioxide (). GWP is 1 for . For other gases it depends on the gas and the time ...

(GWP) than the previously-used

R-134a 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (also known as norflurane (INN), R-134a, Freon 134a, Forane 134a, Genetron 134a, Green Gas, Florasol 134a, Suva 134a, or HFC-134a) is a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and haloalkane refrigerant with thermodynamic properties ...

: its 100-year GWP was originally calculated as 4, and later recalculated as <1, 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. The Dupont team worked jointly with researchers at Honeywell. As a replacement for R-134a, HFO-1234yf is marketed as Opteon yf by Dupont (later

), and as Solstice yf by

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

. As of 2018, 50% of new vehicles produced by

s (OEMs) are believed to use HFO-1234yf for air conditioning. Minor helped to develop both the XP (2014) and XL (2016) lines of refrigerant for Dupont and Chemours. In addition to alternative refrigerants for use in automobiles, more ecologically-friendly refrigerants have been developed for supermarket refrigeration systems (XP40) commercial freezers (XL20), reach-in coolers and freezers (R450A), beverage coolers (HFO-1234yf), large building chillers (XP30), transport units with self-contained refrigeration (XP44) direct expansion air conditioning, chilled water air conditioning and heat pumps (XL41, XL55). 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. A number of these refrigerants involve HFO/ HFC blends. Minor holds more than 160 patents in the United States, for her work on refrigerants, cleaning agents, and aerosol propellants. She is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (

ASHRAE The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE ) is an American professional association seeking to advance heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the ...

) and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (

AHRI The Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), formed in 2008 by a merger of the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) and the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA), is a North American trade association of ...

). She has chaired the AHRI's Research group and the AHRTI's Technology and Steering committees.

Awards

* 2003: featured DuPont scientist, ''Woman Engineer'' magazine * 2010: DuPont Sustainable Growth Award for

* 2014: Dupont Fellow * 2016: Distinguished Service Award, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (

) * 2017: Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, Bucknell University College of Engineering and the Bucknell Engineering Alumni Association * 2018:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minor, Barbara Haviland Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scientists from Delaware 20th-century American chemists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American inventors 21st-century American inventors American women chemists Bucknell University alumni DuPont people Women inventors 21st-century American women