A-Gas, a world leader in environmentally responsible lifecycle refrigerant management, broke ground on another set of separation towers at their Rhome, Texas plant, strengthening their commitment to the circular economy. This expansion project is another example of A-Gas’ continued investment in cutting-edge technology, deepening their role as a sustainable industry player. These new separation towers will increase A-Gas’ output by 100% over the next eighteen months to supply the US with high-quality reclaimed refrigerant gases, substantially increasing the number of such gases in the market.
Late last year, A-Gas completed the construction of their latest refrigerant separation towers at their plant located outside of Dallas/Fort Worth. Recently, the separation towers were brought online, which multiplied the separation capacity at the Texas plant, increasing capacity by 100% since the first set of separation towers were brought online in 2021 and 200% since A-Gas began investing in this technology.
Year-over-year, A-Gas has nearly doubled their reclaimed refrigerant output, making A-Gas a market leader in reclaimed refrigerant in the US. Paired with the AHRI-certified laboratory at the Rhome plant, millions of additional pounds of reclaimed refrigerant, including the most complicated mixes, can be safely returned to the marketplace at AHRI-700 specifications.
Expanding the recovery and reclaim of refrigerant gases is essential for implementing the production and importation phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act), which ensures US compliance with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
“Between the phase down of virgin HFCs in the US, local governments requiring the use of certified reclaimed refrigerant, and our customers’ desire to reduce their own environmental impact, the demand for high-quality reclaimed gas is only growing,” noted Mike Armstrong, President, A-Gas Americas. “We’re proud to meet the needs of customers, industry stakeholders, environmental stewards, and the government through our innovative technology. Together, we can continue to utilize existing resources to provide more circular economy solutions.”
A-Gas’ newest separators will be operational in early 2024. With these new separators, A-Gas will have quadrupled the separation capacity at the current site since 2017, which addresses a critical need highlighted by a recent NGO report: The 90 Billion Ton Opportunity: Lifecycle Refrigerant Management.
Taylor Ferranti, Commercial Vice President of Refrigerant Management at A-Gas, shared, “At the end of the day, every pound of refrigerant that is reclaimed is a pound of refrigerant that was recovered instead of harming the environment with illegal venting. Safe gas recovery through on-site recovery services like A-Gas Rapid Recovery® and cylinder exchange programs like Rapid Exchange® and Refri-Claim make reclaiming refrigerant possible. We’re thrilled to give industry stakeholders who are responsibly recovering refrigerant a solution to bring their used gas back to virgin-grade product specifications for future re-use. We look forward to giving more people and organizations the opportunity to participate in the circular economy.”
A-Gas continues to lead the way in managing the refrigerant lifecycle process through their reclamation capability while continuing to source the next-generation products to support their customers in transitioning to alternative refrigerants.