ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS Reclaiming the future


A-Gas Business Development Manager for Europe Norman Solheid explains how refrigerant reclamation will play a key part in the industry in the coming years.


T


he volume of mixed refrigerant waste A-Gas is receiving from the Continent is increasing. Across Europe recovered waste refrigerants – if not immediately re-used – are in most cases still being incinerated. This practice is far from environmentally-friendly and in turn reduces the amount of reclaimed HFCs available on the market. Quota systems laid down by the F-Gas Regulations are going to further restrict the amount of HFC-refrigerants available and there will undoubtedly be shortages in the coming years. The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) estimates that besides replacement by low GWP alternatives during retrofitting and new installs, roughly a quarter of the 2018 shortfall will need to come from reclaimed sources – otherwise there simply won’t be enough HFCs to meet demand. So reclaimed refrigerant is needed to fill the gap. Once a gas is incinerated the product is lost to the market for ever. Clearly, the industry can no longer afford to do this for regulatory and practical reasons if it wants to meet the supply needs of all its customers.


In general terms the UK, France and the Nordic Countries are ahead of the rest of Europe in recognising the importance of reclamation. Across the Continent there are major differences in the infrastructure to recover used refrigerants.


There is a well-established market across


Europe for the distribution of virgin products but the recovery of used refrigerant is significantly less developed.


A-Gas at its headquarters near Bristol has some of the most advanced reclamation technology in the world. The company is taking this to new levels by investing more than £1 million in a new refrigerant separator, bringing the number at its Portbury plant to three. The new separator will be in operation in the second half of 2017 and will more than double the company’s reclamation capacity.


A-Gas is a licensed reclaimer of refrigerants


and our quality controls ensure that the reclaimed gas used by our customers is of the same high standard and specification as


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virgin refrigerant. In simple terms, if it were to be analysed you would not be able to tell the difference between reclaimed refrigerant and virgin refrigerant. This quality standard is crucial to ensuring reclaimed refrigerants perform identically to virgin refrigerants in systems.


At Chillventa 2016 a large number of businesses from across the Continent approached us at the A-Gas stand to find out more about our reclamation services – an important first step as they looked at ways to respond to the shortfall in the availability of virgin HFCs. They were interested to learn how their unwanted gases can be turned around to make a further contribution to their business and compensate for the quota reduction. I also presented a technical seminar Reclamation of Refrigerants – Bridge Over Troubled Waters – at the show in Nuremberg which further underlined that change is on the way. The eco-efficiency of reclaimed refrigerants means that it makes economic sense for A-Gas and every waste supplier to process cylinders of used gases originating from all 28 EU countries. The GWP of used refrigerants is so high that


when we reclaim them to replace virgin product it’s a win-win situation from a green prospective and increases the availability of HFCs specifically for our waste suppliers. The years 2018 to 2021 will be tough ones for refrigerant supply and reclaimed gas will go a long way to compensate for these shortfalls. Reduction steps for the quota of virgin high GWP HFC refrigerants are 37 per cent in 2018 and 55 per cent in 2021 compared to the base year 2015 – and this will be taking place in an industry which is still growing. So it is important to change the mindset of engineers and end users across Europe.


Influences elsewhere will begin to have an effect too. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol has set out an orderly and gradual phasedown of high GWP HFC products globally. There is a long road to travel along with this but reclaimed refrigerants will rise in importance as we move towards this greener future. Reclamation is a key part to adopting a holistic approach to managing refrigeration. The smart thinkers in our industry have realised this already and reclaiming rather than manufacturing points the way to the future.


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