Reclaimed Refrigerants: RMI Analysis Shows Refrigerants Can Be Reclaimed to Virgin Standards, and Doing So Can Help Prevent Price Spikes as Demand for HFCs Could Exceed Supply in the Coming Years

     RMI analyzed the feasibility of recovering refrigerants by reclaiming them to prevent leakage of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) gases with very high global warming potentials (GWPs). With more refrigeration equipment in the world, the need for the recovery of refrigerants increases. The U.S. and other countries are phasing down the use of HFCs, but it will be a long time before HFC-containing equipment is no longer around. The refrigerant R-410A has a GWP of about 2000 and is used in a majority of residential and commercial air conditioning systems in operation today, including in my own heat pump system. Thus, they note that demand for legacy refrigerants will persist even as production declines.

“Meeting this demand will require more effective management of refrigerant already contained within the installed base of cooling equipment, where significant volumes remain embedded in equipment at the end of its useable life. For example, R-410A accounted for 39% of all HFCs in use in 2022, and more than 80% of residential and small commercial air conditioning equipment rely on it. Much of this refrigerant could be recovered: a national contractor survey found that more than half of retiring residential systems still retain at least 75% of their charge at installation (the proportion of refrigerant contained within a system).”    

     They note that the reclaimed refrigerants can be recovered, reclaimed with sufficient purity, and returned to the market.  

“Scaling recovery and reclamation can convert recovered refrigerant from retired systems into a meaningful secondary supply stream, helping to offset declining production, reduce shortages, and limit price volatility as supply tightens under the HFC phasedown.”

     Reclaimed refrigerants can be utilized as part of buyback programs. They note that not enough refrigerants are currently recovered and reclaimed.

“Despite these benefits, reclaimed refrigerant remains underutilized in the United States, comprising just 3 to 10% of total HFC consumption as of 2022, and refrigerant recovery rates are well below leading nations such as Japan, where the recovery is around 40%.”

     Thus, reclaiming refrigerants presents both an economic opportunity and an opportunity to prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

     RMI partnered with OTS R&D to evaluate the performance of reclaimed refrigerant under controlled laboratory conditions.

“The results were clear: In both systems, across all operating conditions, there were no statistically significant differences in performance between reclaimed and virgin refrigerants. Heating and cooling capacity, as well as energy efficiency, remained consistent and within expected uncertainty bounds. These findings demonstrate that reclaimed refrigerant meeting AHRI 700 standards is chemically equivalent to virgin refrigerant and delivers equivalent performance, reinforcing its viability as a reliable substitute for virgin supply.”

     Reclaiming refrigerants can make the transition to lower GWP refrigerants more cost-effective.

“…fully realizing this opportunity will require sustained coordination and alignment across contractors, distributors, refrigerant producers and reclaimers, equipment suppliers, and policymakers to make adoption of reclaimed refrigerant a standardized industry practice.”     

     Recommendations are given below:

     The key finding of the report is that reclaimed refrigerants can be easily and cheaply reprocessed to virgin refrigerant standards. They note that it will be important in the years to come to manage reclaimed refrigerant, which is still in demand but no longer produced, in order to avoid shortages, price volatility, and service disruptions for contractors and building owners. Europe experienced refrigerant price spikes due to its phase-down requirements, but such problems can be avoided by a well-managed reclamation process.

   

References:

 

Clearing the Air on Reclaimed Refrigerant: Evidence of performance parity with virgin refrigerant. Raghav Muralidharan, Ellie White, Ankit Kalanki, Ellery Klein, Dennis Nasuta. Additional Contributors: Ian McGavisk, Teressa Healy, Sebastian Perez, Sukanya Paciorek, and Hudson Technologies. Rocky Mountain Institute. April 21, 2026. Clearing the Air on Reclaimed Refrigerant - RMI

Report Overview. Clearing the Air on Reclaimed Refrigerant. April 2026. key-takeaways-refrigerant-report-graphics_4.20.26.pdf