F-Gas Legislation: What You Need To Know

Technical Bulletin
What the F-Gas Regulations Means For ALL Users Of Dusters & Freezer Sprays. 
Regulation EU 517/2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases in Technical Aerosols

Did you know that in less than 6-months (31^st December 2017) all commonly used, non-flammable, dusters and freezer sprays will no longer be manufactured and alternatives MUST be considered? In this technical bulletin from global aerosols manufacturer specialist, CRC Industries, we update the market on what this means for manufacturers, distributors, and end-users.

What is an “F-Gas”?
Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) are a family of man-made gases used in a wide range of industrial applications, including technical aerosol products. The F-gases in use within Europe are HFC’s (Hydrofluorocarbons). One of these frequently used HFC’s is R134a, a refrigerant used for air-conditioning, cooling systems and used as a propellant for non-flammable Dusters, Freezer Sprays and other high performance aerosol products.

These propellants do not damage the atmospheric ozone layer, so they are often used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances. However, F-gases are powerful greenhouse gases, with a global warming effect up to 1,430 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2), for R134a. Therefore, the European Union is taking regulatory action to control F-gases as part of its policy to combat climate change.

The climate impact of a substance is commonly expressed as its ‘Global Warming Potential’ (GWP). The lower the GWP, the more climate-friendly. This European regulation prohibits the marketing of products with a global warming potential of more than 150 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Impact on Supplier, Distributor and End User
Effective 1st January 2018, the European aerosol industry in its entirety will not be able to manufacture, nor place on the market any technical aerosol product containing F-gases with a GWP that exceeds 150.

HFC-R134a, with a GWP value of 1,430 is the primary constituent of most non-flammable dusters and freezers. With this ban, it will no longer be available for use in Air Dusters, Freezer Sprays and other high performance products.

Legislation does not impose a final date for marketing these products, provided they have been placed on the market prior to January 1st 2018. Therefore, if your distributor has a large stock of the current 134a-based products, they will be able to supply them as long as they have stock.

What are the options?
There is No “one size fits all” solution. To avoid the use and emission of HFCs, a variety of climate-friendly, energy efficient, safe and proven alternatives are already available today.

In fact, for most applications where HFCs are still used in the world, more climate friendly alternatives could potentially be used. However, due to the differing safety properties of the alternatives, there is no "one size fits all" solution.

The suitability of an alternative must be considered separately for each product category and like many choices in life, compromises may have to be made, where possible. The Ambersil range of Dusters already contains alternatives for the phase-out of HFC-134a; and has been on the market for several years, ensuring reliability, performance, and supply chain availability so end-users can trial it and ensure process compatibility.

CRC is working hard to offer alternative technologies with a primary focus on safety application and the environment and in the coming months all affected Ambersil products will be reformulated in line with the requirements of the EU Regulation 517/2014/

We are currently working on some exciting new technologies which we expect to bring to market during September/October 2017 in advance of the total phase out of HFC-R134a.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/b/ambersil/
www.ambersil.com
www.crcind.com
For more information contact your Product Manager.

***Ends***
KN
12^th June 2017
email: marketing.uk@crcind.com