Current Situation of Refrigerant Recovery and Reclaim

Abstract

The recovery and reclamation of refrigerants is a recommended method of reducing refrigerant emissions, which requires technical support and policies to stimulate the activity. In this study, the policies for supporting refrigerant recovery as well as the quantity of recovered refrigerants reported in Japan, EU, USA, and China are summarized and compared, and the working principles, advantages, disadvantages, and recommended application conditions of five representative recovery methods are described in detail. For the reclamation of refrigerants, the procedures and application conditions of two reclamation methods, that is, simple distillation and distillation refinement, are explained, and seven destruction methods for non-reclaimable refrigerants that need to be destroyed are described. At the end of this paper, the main problems regarding refrigerant recovery and reclamation in China are presented.

Keywords

• refrigerant
• recovery
• reclaimation
• technique
• policy