PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Industrial refrigerants, mainly hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are an integral part of industrial society, being the main chemical components for systems such air conditioning and food processing. Industrial refrigeration is a sector worth EUR 5 billion to the EU economy and was expected to grow by 6% from 2015 to 2020. HFCs, as a source of greenhouse gas emissions, are considered harmful to the environment. In most sectors using HFCs, alternatives like hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrocarbons and blends are more attractive because they have lower global warming potential than HFCs. Nevertheless, the area of alternative and sustainable climate-friendly gases in the refrigeration sector remains an area of continuous development, and the alternatives still need improvement.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE-IREPRO project intended to demonstrate the sustainability and efficiency of a highly innovative batch process to produce novel climate-friendly gases comprising hydrocarbon mixtures of two or more components. This was conceived mainly for industrial refrigeration applications and is characterised by much lower global warming potential than current options. The project aimed to improve the production process of industrial gases by rethinking the distillation step. It managed to turn a traditional high-cost, strict production process to a flexible, secure, cost- and energy-efficient one, by restructuring the blending system to achieve products with more than 99% purity.
The new process sought to overcome strong technological barriers that have so far limited the uptake of hydrocarbon-based climate-friendly alternatives, notably cost, poor versatility, the presence of unwanted by-products, and the safe treatment and manipulation of highly flammable gases. Crucially, it aimed to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and energy use.
The project contributed to the implementation of:
- the EU Green Deal, by reducing the energy and water consumption of the industrial refrigerants production process;
- Regulation 2024/573 on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases, by supporting the phasing out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the refrigerants’ applications;
- Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater, by fostering water efficiency;
- Regulation 1907/2006 Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), by supporting the phasing out of harmful substances to protect human health and environment and innovating the EU chemicals industry;
- Directive (EU) 2018/2002 of 11 December 2018 amending Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, by lowering energy demand in industrial processes.
RESULTS
The LIFE IREPRO project was able to demonstrate the sustainability and efficiency of an innovative batch process to produce new climate-friendly refrigerant gases constituted mainly by selected mixtures of 2 or more hydrocarbon components for industrial refrigeration and air conditioning applications and characterised by lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) with respect to current refrigerants. 5 gas prototypes have been created.
The project redesigned the production process of refrigerant gases by introducing an innovative separation column and restructuring the blending system to achieve gas products with more than 99% purity.
The project achieved environmental benefits by reducing water and energy consumption. The water used in the distillation column for producing hot and cold process water has been reduced to zero, thanks to the design of closed circuits for both utilities. The energy consumption of the LIFE IREPRO pilot line is reduced by 42% compared to the traditional distillation processes thanks to a reduced use of fossil fuels (Liquified Petroleum Gas – LPG) used to produce hot process water for the distillation column.
As regards climate objectives, the project impact in terms of reduction of CO2eq emissions during the production process is minimal, but the final refrigerant products, if released to air, have an outstandingly lower GWP if compared to state-of-the-art HFCs refrigerants.
Replicability is still in progress. Based on the experience gained with the LIFE IREPRO project, the beneficiary is implementing a second distillation column in its facility. This column will be able to treat 2 500 tonnes/year working in continuous mode, will be more versatile and equally able to separate different classes of refrigerants.
Transferability is also foreseen, for both the LIFE IREPRO plant and the second one currently under implementation. The beneficiary intends to start the distillation of reclaimed refrigerants, obtained from the recovery of used refrigerants from end-of-life equipment. The used refrigerants are blends with high GWP, whose components can be separated and reused, preventing the introduction of new refrigerants on the market, as encouraged by the EU in the new Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (FGAS) regulation (2024/573), and in a circular economy perspective.
