Daikin is well-known for their effort to positively impact society and the environment. The whole group works to develop sustainable and energy efficient technology that can improve people’s lives while keeping environmental impact to a minimum.
So, besides developing advanced technology, Daikin strives to meet expectations also in terms of environmental impact reduction.
This approch proves absolutely necessary as the world becomes more polluted, population keeps growing and people keep generating more waste, which is increasingly difficult to dispose.
One of the ways Daikin is trying to make a positive impact, is circular economy.
Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which includes, among other things, reusing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.
For instance, at Daikin waste materials produced in production facilities are kept to a minimum, and when produced, are recycled and reused, but it is not only that.
Since 2019 Daikin is offering products under the brand “L∞P by Daikin” – a line of products using reclaimed refrigerant, based on Certified Reclaimed Refrigerant allocation.
The L∞P by Daikin program
The L∞P program is a demonstration of how serious Daikin is about circolar Economy. So that the company has been working to actually create a Circular Economy of refrigerants, which incorporates all the main principles of circular economy: recovery, reclaiming and reuse.
This initiative is one of the many steps Daikin is taking to make the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) sector more environmentally sustainable.
In fact, the L∞P by Daikin program supports Daikin environmental policy for 2050, which seeks complete carbon neutrality by 2050. A goal that Daikin aims to achieve
- developing low GWP and highly energy efficienct technology
- optimizing the way products use energy through moitoring and control tools
- avoiding, with the L∞P programme, production of virgin refrigerants, including both R-134a and R-410A for 400,000 kg per year. The program will be extended to ther refrigerants in the future.
Find out more about the L∞P by Daikin program for Applied products and VRV products.
From waste to asset
The loop starts with the recovery of old refrigernat from site. This first step can usually involve either Daikin directly or specialized partners, who take care of the collection of end-of-life refrigerant – usually during refurbishment projects.
Old refrigerant is handed over by the customers to Daikin and registered on the customer account for allocation.
A good example that can explain the allocation principle comes from energy companies and the way suppliers feed the power grid. They essentially use electricity coming from different sources (green and non-green), and then, using the allocation principle, they declare the energy delivered within a specific contract as green energy. Of course, this is possible only considering the overall balance of energy sources.
So, after reclamation or distillation, the refrigerant is reallocated to Daikin, and reclaimed refrigerant is used for new products that are part of the L∞P by Daikin brand.
L∞P by Daikin units are then installed on the refurbishing project, and refrigerant charge is administratively allocated to the customer’s new units. The latters are also certified with a Loop by Daikin certificate, as a guarantee that the refurbishment project has been executed avoiding the generation of new waste from the disposal of old refrigerant, which have been instead recovered, reclaimed and made available for re-use.
More about the reclamation process
Refrigerant reclamation is defined as the processing of used refrigerant gases so they can meet specifications for re-use*. Reclamation services are designed with the goal of reducing the environmental impact of refrigerants, allowing the re-use of existing refrigerants, thereby avoiding the need to manufacture new virgin refrigerants*.
Reclaimed refrigerant is simply refrigerant gas recovered and reprocessed so that it can provide and match the performance and quality of the virgin substance. This aspect is ensured by Daikin supplier’s procedures and appropriate testing of the supply, which meets AHRI700 requirements (purity>99.5%) and is then certified as equally good as the virgin refrigerant.
The benefits of using reclaimed refrigerant
The most important benefit of using reclaimed refrigerant on HVAC products, wheter those are VRV or chillers, it’s the minimized environmental impact that this action produce.
As refrigerant is recovered and reclaimed, the environmental impact of end-of-life refrigerant’s destruction is avoided**, which is a key aspect in the L∞P virtuous cycle. The reclaimed refrigerant, as it meets AHRI700 standard (purity>99.5%), can be recovered and reclaimed again and again and again, with not limit whatsoever. That is how end-of-life refrigerant is transformed from waste to assest again.
That makes the L∞P programme a true circular economy program, specific for refrigerants.
Other than the aspect of the environmental impact reduction, there is another great benefit of using reclaimed refrigerant and it is related to EU F-gas regulation.
Under EU F-gas regulation, only virgin refrigerants are considered in the quota system, meaning that reclaimed refrigerants are not subject to any restriction. **
This is very important for those plants operating on refrigerants such as R-410a or R-134a refrigerants, as there still will be the possibility for those plants to keep running on those refrigernats as long as the units in that plant are equipped with reclaimed refrigerant.
* Enhancement of a R-410A Reclamation Process Using Various Heat-Pump-Assisted Distillation Configurations, Nguyen Van Duc Long et al., Energies (2019).
** Waste Management Strategies to Mitigate the Effects of Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases on Climate Change, Castro et al., Applied Sciences (2021).
For more information on the L∞P by Daikin program, get in touch using the form below!