• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.350-355
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• 2013

Little information is available for emission pathway even if HFC-134a that is known as one of the major greenhouse gases has been broadly used in Korea. This paper attempts to clarify the emission characteristics of HFC-134a used for refrigerant of cold drinking vending machines (CDVMs) at the use- and disposal-phase. We measured the residual amounts in the scrap CDVMs of 47 by applying commercial recover for refrigerant. The first-order kinetic model was introduced and the emission rate would be proportional to the remaining quantity of refrigerant. The emission factor at the use-phase was determined indirectly to be $6.9{\pm}0.7$ %/yr within a confidence interval of 95%, using information on residual amount and elapsed operation time at the disposal point. Correspondingly, the annual emission rate of HFC-134a per CDVM was determined to be 11.6 g. The average residual rate of HFC-134a in scrap CDVMs was assessed to be $62.5{\pm}2.2%$, leading to a potential emission amount of 144.8 g per scrap CDVM. The chemical compositions of refrigerants from scrap passenger vehicles are quite similar to those of new refrigerants, suggesting that the refrigerants from scrap passenger vehicles could be reused. During the recovering process of refrigerant, the recovered refrigerant was contaminated by compressor lubricant that accounted for about 30% in weight. It is necessary to separate the refrigerant from the recovered material contaminated by lubricant for recycling and reuse the refrigerant.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1105-1113
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• 2013

This paper attempted to estimate the emissions of HFC-134a from scrap truck as a result of measuring the residual quantities of HFC-134a in air conditioner of scrap truck. We measured the residual amounts in the scrap truck of 138 by applying commercial recover for refrigerants. The average residual rate(disposal-phase emission factor) is reported to be $44.3{\pm}3.3%$ within a confidence interval of 95%. Recent year model trucks exhibit the higher residual rates. Little variation, however, is observed in regard to vehicle size. The HFC-134a emission quantity from scrap truck in 2011 is estimated to be 55,908 $tCO_2$-eq that demonstrates 21.4% increase to compare with that in 2007. As the numbers of truck have increased dramatically during the last two decades, the emissions of HFC-134a from scrap truck would increase sharply in the next coming years. HFC-134a is a very high GWP greenhouse gas. therefore have to reduce the emissions from the scrap truck and need to find ways to recycle. The chemical compositions of refrigerants from scrap truck are quite similar to those of new refrigerants, suggesting that the refrigerants from scrap truck could be reused as refrigerant.