INDUSTRY NEWS
What is GWP and how can it be reduced ?
Graham Fraser , MD of Fraser Technologies
Everyone has heard of global warming , but beyond changes to the weather - like freezing winters and sweltering summers - many people don ’ t really know what it means .
Global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth ’ s atmosphere . NASA says that global warming can be attributed to the greenhouse effect , which occurs when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth . Some types of gases block heat from escaping the atmosphere and are long-lived , remaining semipermanently in the atmosphere without responding physically or chemically to changes in temperature .
Carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons are the most prevalent greenhouse gases and while some , like carbon dioxide , occur naturally , others such as chlorofluorocarbons are synthetic and their manufacture is heavily regulated .
One of the methods for measuring the impact a gas will have on the atmosphere is Global Warming Potential ( GWP ). GWP is used to represent the equivalent of C02 being released into the atmosphere , where 1kg of C02 = a GWP of 1 . For companies manufacturing gases , and for those purchasing and using them , it is critical to manage environmental impact by keeping the GWP as low as possible .
Cleaning solvents were historically guilty of very high GWP and had seriously detrimental effects on the atmosphere . However , a new generation of solvents has been developed specifically with the environment in mind and are now far less harmful than comparable solutions .
For example , the Opteon™ SF80 cleaning solvent from Chemours has an ultralow GWP of less than 2.5 , compared to common F-gas solvents that can have a GWP of up to 11,000 . Because the solvent is just as effective , and in some cases more efficient than competitor products , the environmental savings mean it is an ideal replacement .
A project recently undertaken by Fraser Technologies demonstrates how advantageous this change can be .
14 APRIL 2021 twitter : @ surfaceworldmag