Refrigerants LIFE Cycle Project
In the years 2019-2024, the Refrigerants LIFE Cycle project “Demonstration installation for separation of waste refrigerant mixtures” LIFE18 CCM/PL/001100 Refrigerants LIFE Cycle was implemented.
The project is co-financed by the European Union under the LIFE Program and by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
MAIN OBJECTIVE:
Reducing F-gas emissions into the atmosphere from the refrigeration and air conditioning sector
Thanks to the implementation of the project, it is possible to process almost 100% of refrigerant waste recovered from the installation and transferred for management. In addition, instead of being thermally disposed of, refrigerant waste can be processed and reintroduced to the market as full-value products.
Additionally, thanks to the innovative solution, it is possible to reduce the costs of waste refrigerant management, which will increase the motivation among entities to hand them over for regeneration and separation. The targeted HFC emission reduction of 74,000 t CO2 equivalent/year was achieved.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
Demonstration plant for the separation of refrigerant mixture waste
The construction and testing of the innovative installation for refrigerant waste mixture separation on the demonstration scale was a critical activity of the project. The installation was established in a new building of the Coordinating Beneficiary in Grabce Józefpolskie (Mszczonów Municipality). The installation was commissioned and then tested, including the streamlining of the process. The as-built documentation together with a contract for the sale of know-how were prepared to replicate the solution in the European market. The implementation was the responsibility of the co-beneficiary, Chemat, which has professional staff and extensive experience in the implementation of innovative process solutions.
Refrigerants are separated by rectification, i.e., distillation in a rectification column. The raw input material, a mixture of refrigerants, is heated in a heat exchanger, and the generated vapours move up the column. At the same time, a liquid is fed in the countercurrent (from the top of the column). The rising vapours come into contact with the liquid that flows down, exchanging mass and heat. As a result of the processes, the vapours are enriched with a more volatile ingredient, and the liquid – with a less volatile ingredient. This results in the separation of the refrigerant mixture into the clean refrigerant and a mixture of refrigerants intended for further separation by means of another rectification or pressure swing adsorption.
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is conducted in adsorbers, i.e., columns filled with the adsorption bed – a molecular sieve (see the photo below). The gas mixture is separated when smaller gas particles bind with the porous bed. The particles not bound to the bed (because of their excessive size) pass through the column without stopping. The bed is cleaned by changing the pressure in the system, which causes the separated particles to detach from the bed so they can be collected as a product of the desorption process.
Extension of the refrigerant waste collection system
The waste collection system implemented as part of the project was critical because it enabled the storage of refrigerants intended for separation. The primary goal behind the formation of the PROZON Foundation in 1996 was to create an entity in Poland that would enable compliance with the commitments of the Montreal Protocol concerning the prevention of fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. That is why the Foundation has organised and managed a “national refrigerant waste collection and regeneration system” (“3R system”), which enables the safe management of refrigerant waste through regeneration and re-marketing. It is a closed life cycle of the refrigerant consistent with the principles of the circular economy.
As part of the project, cylinders and tanks were bought, and they were rented out to service companies that recover refrigerants.
The extension of the refrigerant waste collection system by using solutions developed during many years of operations of the Coordinating Beneficiary concerning the collection of waste refrigerants in the Polish market and the involvement of a foreign co-beneficiary, Ekotez. Thanks to the efforts of both Beneficiaries, it was possible to collect more than 500 tons of refrigerant waste during the implementation of the project.
Increasing awareness in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry about the environmental aspects of refrigerant waste management
The actions and effects of the Refrigerants LIFE Cycle project were promoted among a wide target audience, including both the stakeholders and the general public, using various communication channels, e.g., online tools, meetings with stakeholders and industry events. These actions were critical to the successful extension of the waste collection system, raising the awareness of the industry regarding the management of refrigerant waste and the geographic replication of the installation.
More about the project: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/life/publicWebsite/project/details/5061