■ Refrigeration
“Inconceivable” R-22 ban now in effect, flammable refrigerants gaining ground By Greg Scrivener
I Restrictions placed on HFC imports will likely increase the usage of flammable refrigerants, like the use of R-32 in this air conditioner.
n what has become an almost annual event; it is time to talk again about the changes we are seeing in refrigerants. This year, the R-22 production and import ban took effect Jan. 1, marking a milestone of the original CFC/HCFC phaseout that started with the Montreal Protocol in 1987. This is a significant milestone because R-22 was ubiquitous. It was in every single commercial and residential air conditioner I worked on as an apprentice; even though we were knee deep in figuring out POE oil, refrigerant blends with glide, and dealing with the R-12 and R-502 transition. To an apprentice refrigeration mechanic in the mid/late 1990s, it was almost inconceivable that R-22 would actually be
Table 1: HFC phase-down steps under the Kigali amendment reduction from baseline (percentage).
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Plumbing & HVAC – July/August 2020
phased out. Perhaps this is why for me the January 2020 phase-out evoked a somewhat sentimental and nostalgic response because it means I’m getting old. The adage that history repeats itself is certainly ringing true as we begin the phase-down of most of the refrigerants that we used to replace R-22 (and all the other CFC and HCFCs) over the last 20 years.
Environmental commitment One year before the January 2020 R-22 production and import ban, Canada had already embarked on the mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by HFC refrigerants in order to meet our commitment to the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol. We have covered the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali amendment here before on several occasions, so I don’t want to rehash too much detail. As a refresher, the Kigali amendment came into force in January 2019 and the goal was to reduce the HFC consumption levels by 85 per cent by 2047. Canada has adopted an approach that combines a reduction in the allowable HFC importation and production, combined with regulations that force certain
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