Cold Link Africa January / February 2020 | Page 23

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Technical visit to Refrigerant
Reclaiming Hub in Dubai
By John Ackermann
T
he answers to these concerns were
hopefully to be found during a
technical visit to The Recycling Hub
(TRH) by Enviroserve, headquartered in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The group that visited The Hub, included
six members of the National Ozone
Unit (NOU) of Department Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) South Africa;
suppliers of refrigerants: Afrox, A-Gas and
Refrimate; the Capricorn College; The
Cold Link Africa newspaper/SARDA and
two members of United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation (UNIDO), who
facilitated and organised the visit.
Initially the relevance of the visit to
Enviroserve’s TRH was not fully understood,
but after witnessing that refrigerant
Recovery, Recycle, Reclaim (RRR)
equipment used by Enviroserve was in-
fact, similar to that shipped to South Africa
– and so, the purpose of the visit became
very evident.
Four similar RRR packages, funded by
the Montreal Protocol aid programme,
managed and monitored by UNIDO,
are waiting to be utilised in South Africa.
Three of the RRR packages are with Afrox,
Refrimate and the Capricorn College,
where it will be used for the training
of refrigeration technicians and as a
service to the surrounding operators of air
conditioning and refrigeration systems.
Dubai, with its high density of multi-
storey buildings (30 storeys plus), district
COLD LINK AFRICA •
January/February 2020
cooling systems, shopping malls, trains,
trams, hotels, medical centres, all of which
are air conditioned – the mass of installed
refrigerant is in the millions of kilograms.
Similarly, in the seven Emirates of the UAE,
with extreme daily ambient temperatures,
air conditioning is a necessity for human
productivity, comfort cooling and all
forms of refrigeration are essential for food
safety in the storage and distribution of
perishable foodstuffs, mostly imported.
Without any formal legislation and
driven by a passion to reduce the release
of ozone depleting and global warming
synthetic refrigerants and to provide an
alternative to imported refrigerants, Stuart
Fleming founded Enviroserve with the
service of RRR, in 2004. The only assistance
given to Stuart, was the financial support
of his partner, Brian Wilkie, and the much-
needed technical knowhow and training
by Ronald Viskil, who supplied the RRR
equipment from the Netherlands.
“Our beginnings were small, and our
primary challenge was to convince large
corporations that we had an alternative to
the imported refrigerants needed to keep
their plants operational,” stated Fleming.
The large service providers – Trane, Carrier
and Daikin, were also receptive, knowing
that Enviroserve were able to provide a
sustainable supply of refrigerants long
after being banned by international
agreements. Reclaimed refrigerants also
offered a cost saving.
Can the reclaiming of refrigerant be a viable commercial business? How does reclaimed refrigerant
gain acceptance by industry role players? Does reclaimed refrigerant have the same quality as virgin?
Air conditioning is essential in the clusters of high-rise buildings in Dubai.
It took some time, but the model
developed by Enviroserve has proven
financially sustainable. The experience
gained in the RRR of refrigerants, prompted
expansion into the recycling and
destruction of all electronic equipment,
computers, plastics, aerosols, recalled
products and confiscated illegal imports.
TOURING THE HUB
Based on Swiss technology, The Recycling
Hub by Enviroserve stands on 40 000m 2
of which 20 000m 2 houses, under cover,
the largest integrated e-waste recycling
plant for electrical and electronic
equipment – accessible from Asia and
Europe and of course, its primary footprint
area of Middle East, Africa and The
Caucasus (MEAC region).
Quality assurance given for the
Enviroserve reclaimed refrigerants,
originally only R11, R12, R22 and R134a,
was a key factor to gain support and
acceptance by users of refrigerants,
corporations, chiller suppliers and
service companies.
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