Creating a circular economy for refrigerants

Innovative approach for recycling fluorinated gases

Landbell Group company, ERP Portugal is one of the partners on the LIFE 4 F-gases project.

The objective of the project is to demonstrate an innovative technology that selectively recovers fluorinated gases present in commercial refrigerant blends for reuse, thereby minimising their environmental impact.

Nowadays, due to the lack of available technology, most depleted fluorinated gases employed as refrigerants are treated as residues and incinerated.

The project, which started in 2021 and is set to end in 2025, will also contribute to the development of EU environmental policy, especially in relation to tackling climate change and implementing circular economy principles at an industrial level.

Fluorinated gas emissions, mainly employed in the refrigeration sector, are one of the main contributors to climate change. These emissions have increased 60% since 1990. If this trend continues, fluorinated emissions are expected to increase 4 to 5 times by 2050.

ERP Portugal is one of five project partners, which also include NOVA University Lisbon, the University of Cantabria, APRIA Systems (technological partner) and Ambigroup (recycler).

Find out more about the project here.