Topic
Contributing to the Prevention of Climate Change by Recovering and Recycling CFCs (Japan)

AGC Chemicals Company manufactures HCFCs and HFCs as substitutes for CFCs. To fulfill its responsibility as a manufacturer of these products, which are supplied to home electric appliance makers and automakers, the Chemicals Company has been recovering and recycling waste CFCs at Asahi Glass Chiba Plant since 1997. Because the global warming potential of CFCs ranges from several hundred to 10,000 times that of CO2, we can make a great contribution to the prevention of global warming by recycling waste CFCs.
Highly pure recovered CFCs are refined and processed into materials for fluorinated resin at the recycling plant. Those with low purity are broken down into CO2, hydrochloric acid, and hydrofluoric acid at the decomposition plant which has an annual processing capacity of 1,000 tons. Subsequently, by reacting the hydrofluoric acid with lime hydrate, fluorite is produced, which is in turn used as a material for fluorinated products.

In fiscal 2007, the Plant recovered and decomposed approximately 2.4 million tons of CFCs in CO2 equivalent, up about 0.5 million tons from the level in fiscal 2006. It accounted for approximately 20% of the total CFC processing volume in Japan. The AGC Group will continue its efforts to prevent climate change and make more effective use of resources.

Recovering and Recycling amount of Greenhouse Gas in CO2 Equivalent (Asahi Glass)

CFC Recycling Flow