Cold Link Africa July/August 2019 | Page 4

NEWS INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN Farewell to refrigerant landmark By John Ackermann COLD LINK AFRICA PUBLISHED BY Interact Media Defined (Pty) Ltd 13A Riley Rd, Bedfordview 2009, South Africa PO Box 695, Edenvale, 1610 Tel: [phone] | Fax: [phone] Web: www.interactmedia.co.za PUBLISHING UNIT LEAD: Dale Macnamara [email protected] Editor: Ilana Koegelenberg [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES External sales: Dale Macnamara [email protected] Zeldalee du Toit [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS: Maxlee Marange | [email protected] Ralph Shongwe| [email protected] SUB-EDITOR: Mandy Collins DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Glyniss Bone [email protected] PROCESS CO-ORDINATOR: Lebo Bucibo [email protected] MANAGEMENT Content: Benjamin Brits [email protected] Finance: Laetitia Arnott [email protected] PRINTING: Paarl Media / TYPO The vacated TecsaReco Premises in Paarden Eiland, a refrigerant decanting and filling plant. T he premises that housed Cape Town’s first refrigerant decanting and filling plant, have finally ended as a supply point of refrigerant to the HVAC&R industry. Reco, with the assistance of DuPont, installed the decanting and filling plant in their Cape Town branch in Paarden Eiland in 1986, alongside the busy Marine Drive and in close proximity to the Cape Town Harbour. Initially, the decanting plant had six vertical tanks, each having a storage capacity of 16 000ℓ: two tanks dedicated to R12, one for R502, and three for R22. All refrigerant was received in 6m ISO container tanks and it took approximately two hours to transfer the content into one of the storage tanks. The plant was designed to prevent any impurities or air entering the storage tanks during transfer. At that time, AECI was still manufacturing R12 in Vanderbijlpark and the R12 was received at the Reco (then Refrigeration Equipment Co) decanting plant in a similar way. To meet demand, R12 was also imported from Du Pont in the US. Pallets of empty cylinders arrived at Reco by road from any of their eight branches around the country. On arrival, the cylinders were slotted into the reconditioning production line. Each cylinder had its valve removed and was visually inspected inside for any defects. Thereafter, the cylinder was flushed and cleaned with reclaimed R11. A new ozone friendly solvent was later developed by DuPont for the specific purpose of cleaning cylinders at the Reco plant. Once cleaned, the cylinders were re-valved, evacuated and spray painted if needed. On average about 10% of cylinders needed more than just cleaning and about 150 per annum could not be reused and were scrapped During filling, precautionary measures were taken to prevent overfilling and this was regulated according to mass. All filling hoses were connected to the reconditioned cylinders by means of quick sealing valves to prevent any loss of refrigerant or entry of air. After filling, the cylinder valves were sealed with a plastic cover and moved to the dispatch area, ready for transfer to any of the other Reco branches or a local user. Jonathan Hogg of Reco, who project managed the installation commented, “The design of our decanting plant and our quality control procedures are such that our decanted refrigerant is of the same quality as that supplied in cylinders directly from any of the Du Pont plants. Our decanting plant has brought savings to the industry not only by way of lower refrigerant prices and a reduction of invested capital in cylinders, but has also reduced our foreign exchange debt.” After a change in ownership of Reco, the decanting plant was decommissioned and sold to Kovco. The decanting plant was then transferred to their Kugesi Refrigerants plant in Killarney Gardens. The Kugesi decanting plant is one of only three now operational in South Africa and its usage could increase if there were a decline in the importation of refrigerants in disposal cylinders. CLA DISTRIBUTION: [email protected] CIRCULATION: Jul - Dec 2018 Total free distribution 2803 ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY PRINTING All paper is sourced from the Forest Stewardship Council and Chain of Custody-certified suppliers. All waste paper from the plant is recycled. All used plates are recycled. All new printing equipment is purchased for low energy-consumption levels and low volatile organic-compound emissions. COPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMER While every reasonable precaution has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the advice and information given, neither the editor, publisher, proprietor, staff, nor any official body represented or published in this issue, will accept responsibility for any damages, loss, injuries or false claims that may arise or be made in the content. 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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION Refrigerant was received in ISO containers from Cape Town Harbour or the AECI plant in Vanderbijlpark. 4 All cylinders received from around South Africa, were first de-valved, inspected and cleaned. www.coldlinkafrica.co.za COLD LINK AFRICA • July/August 2019