Nobuo Kimura*, Takao Kosugi**, Kanji Fujimori*, Hironobu Ueda* and Yoshiyuki Takamura*

* Kasado R&D Center, Power & Industrial Systems Group, Hitachi, Ltd.
** Association for Electric Home Appliances

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Nobuo Kimura:
(794 Higashitoyoi, Kudamatsu city, Yamaguchi 744-8601 Japan)

Abstract

The heat-insulating foam panels of refrigerators contain CFC gas at a concentration four times greater than that of refrigerant CFC gas. To prevent destruction of the ozone layer, there are some places in Europe where they recover not only refrigerant CFC but also CFC gas from the heat-insulating foam panels of refrigerators. On the other hand, Japan has no such facility. We have therefore started developing a CFC recovery apparatus that is suitable for Japanese refrigerators. After various tests, we have built a prototype apparatus that can treat 50 refrigerators per hour. After a one-year test, in which about 8,000 refrigerators were treated, we have obtained the following results: 1. The recovered CFC-11 is about 400 grams per refrigerator. 2. The recovery ratio from standard panels is 90%.

Key words: rigid polyurethane foam, urethane, freon, refrigerator