A-Gas South Africa has completed a job to recover R22 removed from two decommissioned systems on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean – a country with no end of life refrigerant solution.
Working with GIZ, a German agency supporting sustainable development around the world, six tonnes of this high ozone depleting HCFC at Mauritius Freeport Development were removed safely from the island with the help of a portable A-Gas Rapid Recovery system.
A-Gas is the world leader in the supply and lifecycle management of refrigerants and associated products and services.
A-Gas Group sustainability and regulatory director Ken Logan said this was a proactive international collaboration between A-Gas and one of its partners.
He said the recovery of the refrigerant prevented its potential release into the atmosphere. “Mauritius is not a country that A-Gas has operations within and the job highlighted the flexibility of the mobile A-Gas Rapid Recovery unit and how, by working closely with customers and partners, lifecycle refrigerant management can prove to be an effective solution,” Logan said.
Mauritius Freeport Development (MFD) is the largest logistics centre in the Indian Ocean – acting as a trade and distribution hub for national and international markets.
MFD facilities manager Raj Ramlogun said the A-Gas team gave great support in terms of equipment and workmanship.
“I thank them for their support and will not hesitate to contact them for refrigerant recovery projects in the future,” he said.
The recovered R22 was transported by boat back to South Africa for reprocessing.
The recovery and reclamation of gases is a key pillar of lifecycle refrigerant management on the journey towards net-zero.
Reducing leakage and recovering existing refrigerants for future re-use has a far greater impact on our climate than the substitution of lower global warming potential refrigerants alone.
Logan said refrigerant sent to A-Gas reprocessing centres becomes fully reclaimed product and is returned to the market.
“Around the world, no kilogram of refrigerant once produced, should be allowed to go to the atmosphere. As an industry we need to do all we can to achieve this. With this F-Gas compliant on-site recovery service, refrigerants can be removed easily and quickly by a mobile recovery unit,” he said.