F-GAS How does F-Gas
affect your business and how can you plan for the future?
Dr Rob Lamb, group sales and marketing director at Star Refrigeration, looks at key aspects of the latest revision of the EU F-Gas Regulation and the effect this is having on refrigerant availability and pricing.
F
luorinated gases are used in a number of applications, including refrigeration and air conditioning. When released into the atmosphere, they remain there for many years and contribute to global warming. The F-Gas Regulation was introduced in 2006 and included measures to reduce leakage of refrigerants. Following a review, the regulation was revised in 2014. The latest revision includes a phase- down programme that aims to reduce the use of high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants. The volume of refrigerant that can be sold across Europe is no longer measured in terms of kilograms, but uses a metric of carbon dioxide equivalent.
One kilogram of HFC refrigerant can be thousands of times more potent as a global warming gas that carbon dioxide. Starting in 2015, the timeline aims to reduce the tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 100% of average levels measured between 2009 to 2012 to 21% by 2030.
At the beginning of 2016, the EU imposed an initial reduction of 7% in F-Gases placed onto the market based on carbon dioxide equivalent. The biggest reduction is set to take effect in January 2018, when the level drops to 63% of the original benchmark. Moving away from substances which have a higher global warming potential helps the EU in meeting its environmental targets.
16 January 2018
In the UK, the Government is set to remain aligned to the EU F-Gas regulations and European safety standards post-Brexit.
In addition, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to phase down the production and use of HFCs, has received ratification from Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago – just a week after the United Kingdom had formally ratified the treaty. This meant that the required ratification threshold of 20 countries was met, and the legally binding protocol will enter into force on 01 January 2019.
The phase down isn’t refrigerant specific but looks at overall CO2
across
all gases manufactured. This will encourage manufacturers to move to lower GWP gases in order to produce the same kg/yr
Let’s take a look at what the phase- down means in terms of the average GWP in the market. In 2015, if you take the total refrigerant sold, it equated to GWP of 2250. R134a is the most common single fluid used and is about 1400. R404a is probably the most common low temperature mixture used and it has a GWP of approximately 4000. If we take the benchmark as 2250 and take the same quantity of refrigerant as we go through the phase- down timeline, by 2018 we would need to be down to an average GWP of 1450. In other words, everything that we use
We can’t stop using refrigeration, as it is a key requirement for many aspects of our daily life including food production and storage, data storage, beverage production, and pharmaceutical production. We must look at alternative fluids that can be used for refrigeration, naturally occurring and synthetic. However, there are challenges in adopting new fluids. F-Gas refrigerant prices are rocketing – for example, the price of R404a has increased over 700% in the last five months. This wasn’t the case for CFC or HCFC (R22) phase-outs and it is already causing concern within the industry as to how high prices will go and when increases will stop. Leakage rates costs are also a big problem for businesses with
on average would need to be the same as R134a.
As we progress further, by 2023 it will be down to 1000 and at less than 500 by 2030. There are very few refrigerants that are widely used to date with a GWP less than 1000.
Therefore, to achieve these set targets we can move forward in two ways: ■ Develop and use different synthetic refrigerants with lower GWPs.
■ Switch to completely naturally occurring alternatives such as ammonia, carbon dioxide or hydrocarbons, which have GWPs less than 150.
www.acr-news.com
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