1. Refrigerant replacement

With a view to the future eradication of certain refrigerants under the Kyoto Protocol, the use of R 22 (HCFC) has been reduced since 2001 and is due to be banned in 2015, both as a virgin product and for maintenance and servicing purposes. Production will cease definitively in 2026.

In view of the 14,000 t of R 22 contained in refrigeration systems of all kinds operating in 2008, the Steering Committee of the French Refrigeration Association (AFF) and UNICLIMA, together with specialists and major users, have looked into this serious problem to propose solutions to worried users.

It turned out that there are only three strategies:

• retain R 22, a solution that can only be envisaged for end-of-life plants, provided that strict attention is paid to their containment, since from 2010 the supply...