REFRIGERANT RECOVERY
Rapid Recovery reaches Europe
A-Gas commercial director Enzo D’Alessio says the industry is in good shape with new technological advances coming through.
A 8
-Gas will be unveiling its Rapid Recovery service to customers in Europe at Chillventa and showcasing the latest developments in refrigerant reclamation.
In the UK we can look forward to this major refrigeration exhibition in good heart as the industry is in a respectable place following fast-paced reactions to the F-Gas phase down.
In this respect, compared with the rest of Europe, the UK appears to be taking the lead. Major users are switching to low GWP refrigerants and have responded well to the message that standing still on the stepdowns is not an option.
The supermarkets are a good example of how this is happening as most have a low GWP refrigerant programme rolling out across their stores over the coming years.
At A-Gas our investment in refrigerant recycling equipment is paying off. There is a much bigger flow of reclaimed R404A coming through to us now and this is easing the pressure on the supply chain.
The price of R404A has levelled out in the UK, but in Europe it has yet to do so. I suspect that this is because suppliers are still sitting on stocks of the widely used legacy gas bought at high prices. From our perspective there is clear evidence from the last 18 months that the industry is
working together to make change happen. End users, contractors and suppliers like ourselves have been co-operating to get the new low GWP alternatives in use to end our reliance on high GWP gases. Differing sectors of the industry have taken on board the message that we have to re-use much of what we have to avoid the prospect of shortages. This new level of co-operation illustrates how our business world is developing and this can only be good news for the future. Our Rapid Recovery refrigerant service also shows how technologies are advancing to handle this work. Rapid Recovery has a network of recovery vehicles and engineers to go on site at short notice and tackle jobs of all sizes. Rapid Recovery provides recovery services to a wide range of industries, including refrigeration, HVAC, demolition and marine. The Rapid Recovery team can take care of all aspects of the work, from start to finish, including the hazardous waste documentation and job site reporting.
These new practices in
recovery techniques have brought with them further benefits. We can now recover the gas very quickly and this means that with a typical supermarket job you don’t need to demerchandise refrigeration cabinets. That has significant benefits for end-users as removing stock from cabinets can be a costly burden to a
store operation and by keeping products in place, business can continue as normal.
Rapid Recovery played a key role in a large-scale refrigerant retrofit involving 114 convenience stores nationwide owned by Asda. Operating at night to a tight schedule over a six-week period at the former Netto stores, Rapid Recovery, working in partnership with City Building Engineering Services and wholesaler FSW, completed this major refurbishment job on time and with the minimum of disruption. The timescale presented a challenge and for most nights during the contract, four separate recovery teams were working on two refrigeration packs at stores in different parts of the country. Large quantities of the high GWP refrigerants R404A (more than 13,000 kgs) and R407A (more than 3500kgs) were removed. The high GWP gases were replaced by R448A – a non-flammable HFO blend used as a replacement for R404A, R407A and R22 in low and medium temperature refrigeration applications. The system recovered the refrigerant quickly without Asda having to empty the display equipment. This was the first time that the store chain had used the service and the programme was completed problem-free across all 114 stores. A-Gas will launch Rapid Recovery across Europe in the next six months as it looks to take advantage of the progress made in recovery techniques and
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
