Overview of HCFC Phase-Out LegislationHelping you choose the best phase-out strategy – from retrofits to new investments

Under the Montreal Protocol, it was agreed that ozone-depleting substances, including CFCs and HCFCs, would be phased out globally.

All around the world, governments are implementing local legislation to meet their obligations to phase out the use of HCFCs. The exact transition plans depend on your location. Some geographies such as the EU are near complete in phasing out the use of HCFCs. Others, such as the USA, Japan and Australia are making substantial progress through usage and quota restrictions.

Many other parts of the world, including the majority of emerging markets are about to start the process of phase-down. In most of these countries, the first quotas will come into force in 2013, reducing the volume of HCFCs sold to 2010 levels. Further reductions will come into force in 2015 (10% reduction) and 2020 (25% reduction) onwards towards the aim of total phase-down by 2040.

These quota reductions will reduce the volume of HCFCs available in your market, leading to product shortages and cost increases. Therefore it will make sense to look for alternative products, such as HFCs and natural refrigerants.

Help from Linde

Linde engineers can help you find the phase-out strategy best suited to your application – factoring in the age, working life, condition and operating costs of your facility. We can help you choose suitable replacement refrigerants that lower your environmental impact while still providing effective chilling and cooling performance.

In many cases, you can convert your system to run on a retrofit HFC refrigerant. Many retrofit products are drop-in replacements that necessitate only a few adjustments, such as expansion valve modifications or oil changes.

Alternatively, we can help you replace existing equipment to take advantage of newer, more environmentally friendly natural or HFC refrigerants.