Simplified Mass Balance Method For Refrigerant Emissions Management

Using the simplified mass balance method can help calculate current levels of harmful chemicals and refrigerant gases like chlorofluorocarbons (CHCs)and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in order to make accurate prediction of future accumulated emissions.

Information on emissions will help enable government regulators and environmental scientists tp evaluate global climate change rate better basing on the levels of refrigerant use and consequent carbon emissions which can increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To determine the difference between the start amount and the end amount of a substance like refrigerant gas, a simplified mass balance method helps. The time period most commonly used is a calendar year. This is in a way similar to the concept of accounting an organization's taxes in a year. Emissions related calculation will help determine the amount of harmful chemicals used in an enterprise's operation and the amount discharged to the environment on a daily basis.

The equation used for the simplified mass balance method adds the amount of refrigerant gas or other harmful chemicals that enter a process, such as a HVAC-R system, plus the different ways in which those chemicals are used, such as waste, vented during servicing, breakage of the system, or accumulation as reserve stockpiles. This will sum up to the amount of refrigerant gases that enter the atmosphere which can cause destruction to the ozone layer and increase in the release of refrigerants which have high global warming potential.

Using refrigerant gas as an example, the calculation takes into account the starting amount, its transformation throughout the entire cooling process, and the waste amount that required end of year accounting and reporting to a government body like the U.S. the California Air Resources Board (CARB) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A simplified mass balanced method enables a facility to track the amount of substances that is used for a specific function in a process-driven and systematic way. This enables tracking and accurate data management down to the pound threshold across an entire organization if needed. It is broken down by how much enters the system, how much leaves the system and how much is stored within the system. This approach is used when it is necessary to account for pollutants.

The improvements in operational efficiencies will fully out-weight the incurred overhead of more refined business processes when an organization considers the increased cost of refrigerant gases painted against the backdrop of phase out schedules, the mandatory reduction of greenhouse gases, and the looming future of a carbon cap and trade system.

The mass balance method is required by the EPA to monitor and track chemicals that have been identified as harmful contributors to air pollution, the deterioration of the stratospheric ozone layer, and to increased, negative effects on global climate. These chemicals include chloroflurocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, methyl bromide, halons, methyl chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride; in essence includes all the substances which are being tracked under the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental regulations being drafted in the US for the future.