Wilmington, Del. — DuPont Refrigerants urges HVACR industry members to take action to prepare for less virgin R-22 supply in 2013.
“On Jan. 7, the U.S. EPA issued a “No Action Assurance” letter detailing 2013 R-22 production and import rights for manufacturers,” said Jim Bachman, North American sales and marketing manager, DuPont Refrigerants. “There are significant reductions in R-22 supply, indicating an immediate need for refrigerant management planning including retrofit to R-22 alternatives like DuPont™ ISCEON® MO99™ and refrigerant recovery and reclaim.”
The HVACR industry will operate with 39 million pounds of virgin R-22 supply in 2013 vs. 55 million pounds in 2012. The impact is 16 million pounds less virgin R-22 supply, a 29 percent year-over-year reduction.
“We have worked with the industry throughout the R-22 phase-out, and will continue to do so,” said Bachman. “DuPont has an active refrigerant recovery and reclaim program, however, the rate of reclaim seen by the industry in recent years will not be sufficient to fill the gap in available R-22. Other steps including service practice improvements and retrofits to R-22 alternatives like ISCEON® MO99™ are needed to accelerate the move away from R-22.”
DuPont has a nationwide network of Authorized Refrigerant Reclaim Centers to handle recovered refrigerants under the requirements of the EPA Reclaimer Certification Program.
“Our network of reclaim centers is ready to help contractors with recovery and reclaim of their used R-22,” Bachman continued. “Recovered R-22 will help increase available supply for service in 2013 and in future years to help meet the ongoing needs of R-22 equipment owners.”
DuPont is a leading global supplier of refrigerants, using science and technology, market knowledge and global reach to provide sustainable materials and solutions to enhance personal comfort, enable food preservation, improve industrial processing and reduce environmental footprints. For more information, visit http://refrigerants.dupont.com.
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