Reduction of chlorofluorocarbon emissions from refrigeration systems

Recently enacted State and Federal legislation, (The Clean Air Act and Colorado Senate Bill 77), and the implementation of regulations for each, forbid the intentional release of ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) from refrigeration and air conditioning systems to the atmosphere. In addition, an international agreement (The Montreal Protocol), calls for CFC manufacturing reductions, which began in 1991, and eventual discontinuation. The declining supply and resultant escalating costs of CFCs are additional driving forces toward conservation and reuse of present refrigerant resources. Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) currently has an estimated 42,000 pounds of CFCs in refrigeration and air conditioning systems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss steps being taken at RFP toward the abatement of CFC releases. The main thrust of our efforts is the use of a refrigerant management system, used to recover and recycle our current CFC stock. Additional methods of further reducing CFC emissions will also be discussed. These include the installation of state-of-the-art oil filtration systems on major chiller units, installation of spring-loaded pressure relief valves and the retrofitting of major chiller units to accept less harmful, alternative refrigerants.