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Feature
© RACA Journal
A rapt audience at the April SAIRAC Johannesburg Tech Talk hosted at ACRA .
natural refrigerants represent the optimal choice ; unfortunately , the necessary hardware is not always available within the country .
Regulatory requirements play a critical role in guiding the industry towards sustainable practices . However , there have been notable delays in governmental decision-making processes . For instance , despite the Kigali Amendment being introduced in 2016 , South Africa ratified it only three years later . Currently , the country relies primarily on outdated standard environmental acts as the sole government regulations . In 2012 , the HCFC phase-out national plan was introduced , followed by the publication of the National Environment Management Air Quality Act in 2014 , which specifically addressed the phase-out and management of ozone-depleting substances . South Africa ' s ratification of the Kigali Amendment occurred in 2019 . In 2021 , an amendment was published ; however , it failed to provide substantial guidance on the future phasedown in accordance with the Kigali Amendment . Consequently , a pervasive sense of uncertainty prevails , and a comprehensive roadmap for transitioning towards natural refrigerants remains absent .
Although hydrocarbon refrigeration technology is already established in other parts of the world , it is not yet fully commercially available within South Africa and is currently limited to the domestic appliance market segment . Importation of such technology is currently limited due to the lack of demand within the country .
The complexity escalates when considering multiplex systems employing ammonia and CO 2
. Furthermore , analysing the cost of refrigerants relative to the baseline R22 , R404 demonstrates a substantial increase of approximately 1.7 times , while the new refrigerant 448 is nearly 3.3 times more expensive than R22 . Conversely , R290 proves to be a more affordable alternative to R22 ; however , its viability is hindered by the unavailability of compatible hardware .
Addressing maintenance costs , fuel quality , pressure and flammability requires adherence to safety principles outlined in SANS 10147 and ASHRAE Standard 34 , which categorise refrigerants into different safety groups .
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RACA Journal I June 2024 www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za