Refrigerant Reclamation: Assessing Potential Emissions Impacts of R-410A Refrigerant Reclamation in the United States’ Residential HVAC Sector

In the United States, new rules announced by the Environmental Protection Agency are requiring a transition away from refrigerants that have high global warming potential (GWP) to support implementation of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. The phasedown of these super-emitter refrigerants means lifecycle refrigerant management (LRM) practices, including recovery and reclamation, will be vital to manage the gap between refrigerant supply and demand for operation and maintenance of existing refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump equipment, all while ensuring a shift to lower GWP refrigerants.

Stimulating recovery and reclamation efforts can minimize disruption to the current stock of equipment in operation, enabling continued use with existing refrigerant supplies until the equipment’s end of life. It can also help manage supply shortages of virgin refrigerants and insulate the industry against price spikes that could affect the servicing of existing systems that use HFCs. However, one of the key prerequisites for incentivizing reclamation — either via regulation or other market mechanisms such as carbon markets — is articulating its environmental benefits compared with the continued use of virgin refrigerant.

RMI’s Refrigerant Reclamation report highlights the positive climate impact of using reclaimed refrigerant R-410A (the most commonly used refrigerant in residential equipment) for servicing existing air conditioning and heat pump equipment in the residential sector. This analysis found that reclamation of R-410A can cut greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerant production by more than half compared to production of new refrigerant. Maximizing reclamation in place of producing new refrigerant can reduce emissions from the sector overall.

The report also highlights current financial and logistical barriers to recovery, which is foundational to achieving the illustrated emissions impact from reclaimed refrigerant. It also identifies policies and best practices from different regions around the world to overcome those barriers based on stakeholder interviews conducted by the team. Implementing these policies quickly will be crucial to scale the adoption of reclaimed refrigerant in the United States, which impacts not only the R-410A market, but also the success of the broader industry transition to refrigerants that have a significantly lower impact on the climate.