Establishing methodology for evaluating refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment: institutional responses to climate change in South Korea

This paper aims to propose testing methods and standards for evaluating refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment so that the methodology can be used for alternative material-related technological research in South Korea. To achieve this, the paper establishes test methods based on international and domestic standards. Major test items can be classified into following categories; equipment performance and the quality of recycled refrigerant. Selected refrigerants are HCFC-22, HCFC-123 and HFC-134a. The resulted equipment performance revealed that the movable type, which is the majority model in South Korea, has recovery and capacity advantages to be suited into international standard. On the other hand, the quality of recycled refrigerant lagged in purity and high-boiling residue. The purity of HCFC-22 was 99.3% which was obviously contaminated than the pure refrigerant and the international standard. High-boiling residue of HCFC-22 and HCFC-123 also showed lower numerical value compared to the international standard. Aforementioned results imply the gap between international and domestic standard. Based on result values of test equipment and precedent studies, approximate standard performance criteria and values were set as proposed by South Korean standard.