Síganos
In France alone, approx. 17,000 tons of R-22 are still used in existing refrigeration and a/c installations. The European bank of HCFCs is even estimated to be around 130,000 tons. And from next year on, the use of virgin R-22 will be forbidden...In France, 2,700 tons of R-22, which corresponds to 37.4% of all refrigerants, are still used per year for maintenance and service applications. However, quantities recovered from systems at the end of their lifetime only represent approx. 800 tons per year.
This disequilibrium will probably persist for quite a while, especially as many end-users prefer waiting for 2010 instead of taking action now.
The chiller market is strongly concerned by the R-22 phase-out. R-22 represents 77%, i.e. 811 tons, of the approx. 1,000 tons of refrigerants used for the maintenance of chillers. This corresponds to nearly one third of R-22 used for all maintenance applications in France.
What are the possibilities for users, when, according to the EU regulation 2037/2000, virgin R-22 will be prohibited from the 1st January 2010?
Author : Andrea Voigt - Refripro
Date : 27/04/09