Refrigerants ban requires rapid response

In Europe, from 1 Jan 2010, the use of virgin HCFC including R22 and R123 will be prohibited in the maintenance and servicing of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. From 2010 to 2015 only reclaimed R22 and R123 can be used for service. All HCFC top up will be prohibited from 1 January 2015 in Europe. Process Engineering asks Alexander Cohr Pachai, a business development manager at Johnson Controls about the steps UK process operators should be taking ahead of the ban on many widely used refrigerants: 

Q. How is this rule change playing out in the various UK process industries, especially the chemicals, pharmaceutical and food & beverage sectors?

Not all industries are equally affected by the current economic problems: We still need a lot of basic things such as food and drink and pharmaceuticals. On the flip side, the car industry is severely affected.

In the refrigeration industry we have new rules with which to contend, mainly the use of HFC technology and the phase-out of R22, both of which apply to the entire EU. Yes there is an added cost involved, but everyone must comply eventually and there is an opportunity in being one of the first to comply – experts could be created and the sought after skill offered to others for a price.

The phase out of R22 and the legislation on F-gas registration will not affect the big key players too much as they already preferred ammonia as their refrigerant of choice. But those businesses that waited until the eleventh hour to react to the R22 withdrawal are facing big problems, which are now impacting on top of any economic issues they may be facing. Many multiple plant owners have the choice of investing money in interim solutions or long-term solutions, but the capital required was not put aside in time and they are feeling the pinch now.

Industry had a very long time to solve the R22 problem. R22 became a part of the ozone issue back in 1992 and industry has not been allowed to install new R22 plants since 2000-2004, depending a little on size, type of equipment and country of the installation. Since the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 various administrations said that the HFC solution had to be an interim solution going to a sustainable solution based on natural refrigerants.

Chemical industries and other industries with a lot of ATEX equipment, required when equipment uses hydrocarbons as refrigerants, may be affected by new regulations following the “greener” trend. However, one more ATEX safety installation does not concern them. For those unfamiliar with these rules it can be more difficult, but not impossible and one should remember that ammonia installations do not require ATEX equipment.

Q. In which application areas will/are the most significant changes be/being felt?

All areas will be affected over time by new legal and consumer requirements. Saving energy provides a big opportunity to save money on production, but if your refrigeration system is leaking, all the savings on the energy side may be wasted. For example, a site has a number of HCFC and HFC systems. The systems are topped up with 300kg of different types of refrigerants per year. Let’s set the average global warming potential (GWP) to 2,600, which is an average GWP for R22 and the most used HFC refrigerants. The leaks have the same impact on the environment as 300 X 2,600 = 780,000kg CO2. With a current energy mix in the UK of 0.7 kg CO2/kWh, this will correspond to an energy production of 1,114,286 kWh. The 300kg refrigerant has a value but the energy savings are much more expensive and the environment is no better off.

Unrealistic example? No not at all, I have seen much bigger figures. If you then go into a nationwide scale you can see what impact that will have: the annual consumption in Europe is about 100,000 tons per year just for topping up and this is only one side of the problem.

Many modern low charge systems quickly lose efficiency when they lose some refrigerant: 15% refrigerant loss can mean as much as 100% extra power input to achieve or try to achieve the correct temperature. It adds up on the expenditure and on the carbon footprint.

Fixing leakages is a very efficient way to get a green bottom line. A proper maintained refrigeration plant should not leak anything of this magnitude. A domestic refrigerator works for 16 years on average and is never topped up. Industrial systems can get close to zero leaks by investing in proper and regular maintenance.

The average UK maintenance level is at an absolute minimum with poor management on the plant and economic side. A badly maintained plant uses more energy than is actually required and most of the charge has gone before leaks are dealt with. The F-gas legislation is one of the responses to this.
3) Will there be any significant impact on the pricing or supply of equipment geared up to handle non-HCFC refrigerants?

I don’t think the main problem will be the pricing. It is more a question about how much production you will lose because you have to wait until someone can fix your plant if you lose your R22. After 1 January 2010 you cannot legally buy and charge your system with virgin HCFC. Many believe there will be enough recycled HCFC in the market to help them through to the end of 2014. However, in 2007 and 2008 the consumption of R22 in the UK market was about 2,000 tons per year. The recycled R22 was about 200 tons per year. This means that there will be far from enough to cover all needs. Some companies have found a loophole by decanting the current charge and banking it and then recharging the plant with virgin R22 while it is still legal to use virgin material.

But banking is not without risks. When plant owners keep cylinders at site for banking for their own needs they obstruct the whole system for others. An additional problem is that the refrigerant producers will not produce cylinders for this purpose. If we had to produce these cylinders, there is a possibility there would be a shortage of steel. Owners also seem to forget that illegal refrigerant has to be incinerated at quite a high cost. In addition, there are not sufficient technicians in the country to do a proper conversion of the plants all over the UK over the next 5 years. more…

Q. Why are ammonia and carbon dioxide becoming preferred choices in frozen food applications?

Owners of large refrigeration plants appreciate the value of efficiency and the cost of refrigerants. Ammonia plants are more expensive initially, but these costs are redeemable in a very short time thanks to the running costs. Unfortunately, ammonia has a strong and unpleasant smell, which can spoil products. Odourless carbon dioxide is proving popular as an alternative to ammonia as it is highly efficient in many applications and allows the possibility of increasing the through-put by lowering the temperature in the freezer.
5) Is it a straight swap or are there technical issues that equipment operators should be aware of in switching to and using equipment using ammonia or CO2?

CO2 can use some of the low temperature parts of the existing R22 plant provided the materials are designed for the pressure, and they mostly are. Some pipes may be too big resulting in lower pressure drops, but this is rarely a problem. Existing evaporators can also have pipes that are too big but the main heat transfer problems are mainly on the airside, so it will still work. One of the few exemptions is plate freezers where you need to change the plates due to mal distribution problems especially in vertical plates.

When it comes to ammonia it is a bit more complicated due to compatibility issues. Ammonia is not compatible with copper or zinc or any products containing these metals. Ammonia can react with R22 residues to create very strong and destructive acids. The change over is possible, but it takes a specialist to achieve the desired results.

When it comes to chillers, the old well-served unit is simply replaced with the new ammonia system as ammonia has the same requirements as other refrigerants. The ventilation is changed from floor level to ceiling level because ammonia is lighter than air. To prevent ammonia escaping from the plant room, the exhaust air can be washed with water, as one litre of water can absorb 700 litres of ammonia vapour. The ammonia water can then be used for fertilizing your garden or sold to a farmer.

Q. Any other advice to process operators in dealing with these issues?

Just fulfilling the minimum safety and maintenance requirements as stated in standards and laws is not good enough. A poorly maintained plant has implications on both the running cost and the environment. If you do not wish to be left with a refrigerator that cannot keep the temperature down due to lost R22 you must act now, you cannot wait until the 2010 deadline.

For those who do insist on waiting, expect a long queue as next year will be hell with all technicians working at maximum capacity to meet the demand. Any companies without cash problems may be thinking they can buy their way out of any queues. But the problem will be a lack of available qualified technicians. Money won’t help. To quote Sir Winston Churchill: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” That will be the case when we are finally out of the R22 nightmare, just because everybody waited to the last minute to do something about a problem that has been common knowledge for 17 years.