Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
RemTec International would like to wish you and your entire staff a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Happy Veteran's Day
RemTec International honors those who are serving and who have served our country to maintain our freedom! Thank you!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
RemTec International Announces the Expansion of their Halon and Refrigerant Reclamation Services to the Middle East Region
BOWLING GREEN, OH, USA – (Business Wire) - In conjunction with Pan Gulf Industrial Systems, RemTec International has announced it will commence Halon reclamation and banking operations in the Middle East as of November 2010. This halocarbon reclamation facility will be the first of its kind in the region. Located on the second Dammam industrial city, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it will also provide services throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.
The newly constructed 30,000 square foot facility is part of a three-phase program to contain and manage Class I and II Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and other halocarbons. The initial phase will provide Halon reclamation and banking capabilities on a regional basis to petrochemical companies and other end users. The second phase will expand these services to include reclamation and banking of all ODS including Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) refrigerants, and in addition Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are high in Global Warming Potential (GWP). The third phase will install advanced systems that safely destroy all of these substances and other environmentally-hazardous wastes using patented Plasma Arc Destruction Technology.
The facility will be equipped with a full laboratory that will be capable of testing to a number of standards including ASTM-D5632-08, ISO 7201-2:1991 or Military Specification B-8741 (USAF). Refrigerant testing to the AHRI Standard 700-2006 will also be developed as later project phases are added. Ultimately, the laboratory will provide convenient and accurate testing of Halons and refrigerants throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe
Finally, as ODS are phased out, it will be important that these materials are handled properly, particularly at the end of their useful lives. This is a concern to many countries in the region as well as to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. For this reason, this project was selected to be part of a case study by the World Bank, to examine methods to manage and destroy ODS as they are phased out. Using Plascon Plasma Arc Destruction Technology, ODS will be destroyed with an extremely high Destruction Removal Efficiency (DRE) of 99.9999%. Mr. Marcus concluded his remarks by stating, “A high DRE is achieved with de minimis emissions to the atmosphere and a safe, salt water solution as the only effluent. In conjunction with our alliance partner, DoloMatrix in Australia, RemTec is able to provide these environmental solutions in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner, in areas of the world that normally lack this advanced technology. In addition, Plascon also has the potential to destroy chlorophenols, chlorinated phenoxywaste, concentrated PCB, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and chlorinated solvents, which are present in the Middle East and surrounding regions.”
ABOUT REMTEC INTERNATIONAL
Established in 1986, RemTec International is a world leader in the recovery, reclamation and destruction of Halons and Refrigerants. RemTec’s Halocarbon Management Program uses patented technologies which avoid emissions that either destroy the ozone layer or add to global warming potential. RemTec's unique approach facilitates safe disposal of unwanted Halons, CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs on a worldwide basis. These hazardous substances are recovered, reclaimed and in some cases destroyed, in accordance with all domestic and international regulatory standards. For more information, please visit www.remtec.net or e-mail info@remtec.net.
The newly constructed 30,000 square foot facility is part of a three-phase program to contain and manage Class I and II Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and other halocarbons. The initial phase will provide Halon reclamation and banking capabilities on a regional basis to petrochemical companies and other end users. The second phase will expand these services to include reclamation and banking of all ODS including Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) refrigerants, and in addition Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are high in Global Warming Potential (GWP). The third phase will install advanced systems that safely destroy all of these substances and other environmentally-hazardous wastes using patented Plasma Arc Destruction Technology.
The facility will be equipped with a full laboratory that will be capable of testing to a number of standards including ASTM-D5632-08, ISO 7201-2:1991 or Military Specification B-8741 (USAF). Refrigerant testing to the AHRI Standard 700-2006 will also be developed as later project phases are added. Ultimately, the laboratory will provide convenient and accurate testing of Halons and refrigerants throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe
Finally, as ODS are phased out, it will be important that these materials are handled properly, particularly at the end of their useful lives. This is a concern to many countries in the region as well as to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank. For this reason, this project was selected to be part of a case study by the World Bank, to examine methods to manage and destroy ODS as they are phased out. Using Plascon Plasma Arc Destruction Technology, ODS will be destroyed with an extremely high Destruction Removal Efficiency (DRE) of 99.9999%. Mr. Marcus concluded his remarks by stating, “A high DRE is achieved with de minimis emissions to the atmosphere and a safe, salt water solution as the only effluent. In conjunction with our alliance partner, DoloMatrix in Australia, RemTec is able to provide these environmental solutions in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner, in areas of the world that normally lack this advanced technology. In addition, Plascon also has the potential to destroy chlorophenols, chlorinated phenoxywaste, concentrated PCB, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and chlorinated solvents, which are present in the Middle East and surrounding regions.”
ABOUT REMTEC INTERNATIONAL
Established in 1986, RemTec International is a world leader in the recovery, reclamation and destruction of Halons and Refrigerants. RemTec’s Halocarbon Management Program uses patented technologies which avoid emissions that either destroy the ozone layer or add to global warming potential. RemTec's unique approach facilitates safe disposal of unwanted Halons, CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs on a worldwide basis. These hazardous substances are recovered, reclaimed and in some cases destroyed, in accordance with all domestic and international regulatory standards. For more information, please visit www.remtec.net or e-mail info@remtec.net.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
ODS Projects Enter the Carbon Market: A Near-Term Solution to Climate Change
Article provided by: http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/ods-ozone-depleting-substances-carbon-market/
By Jill Abelson & Joe Madden
Last October, on the eve of the Copenhagen talks, Richard Levangie pointed out that climate change isn’t only about carbon dioxide. Doing more to reduce non-CO2 climate change contributors, Levangie reported, “might head global warming off at the pass,” citing Nobel Laureate Dr. Mario Molina and co-authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Calls for near-term action on non-CO2 greenhouse pollutants as a way to slow down climate change have steadily increased since then.
Non CO2 gases typically refer to hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), methane, tropospheric ozone – which are in the Kyoto “basket” of gases, and black carbon. All of these gases are extremely good at absorbing infrared radiation, but can be reduced with readily available technologies or substitutes.
Overlooked until now in the climate change policy discussion is another entire class of non-CO2 greenhouse gases — chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone depleting substances, collectively called ODS. ODS not only destroy the earth’s ozone later, as their name suggests, they are also extremely powerful greenhouse gases — some up to 10,000 times more potent than CO2 pound-for-pound.
Government, industry and environmental groups considered these gases fully controlled under the Montreal Protocol, but that is only partially true as I’ll discuss below. A global effort is now underway to create market-based incentives to prevent large scale emissions of these chemicals.
Background on ODS
Ozone depleting substances (ODS) — including CFC11, CFC12, Halon 1211 and HCFC 22 — have been used in a variety of important applications, including aerosols, refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation foam, solvent cleaning, and fire suppression. The Montreal Protocol, ratified by 195 countries, established legally binding controls on national production of ODS. The Protocol is widely considered an environmental success story: it has succeeded in cutting back production of ODS by 97% from historic baseline levels. Concentrations of CFCs and halons in the stratosphere are showing signs of stabilization, and the ozone layer is expected to recover sometime around 2065.
A New Crossroads: ODS and Climate Change
Despite this success, large quantities of CFCs produced prior to phase-out deadlines remain in use in older equipment and infrastructure, e.g., refrigerators, air conditioners, building chillers, supermarket systems, food warehouses and food processing plants, refineries, building insulation, and fire suppression systems. As a result there is continued demand for reclaimed ODS to replenish old, and often leaky, equipment. A 2005 report by the IPCC and Montreal Protocol Technology and Economic Assessment (TEAP) Panel estimated that global ODS banks, not yet emitted into the atmosphere, represented the equivalent of 21.1 billion tons of CO2 in 2002, approximately 18 billion tons of CO2eq today. This unreleased gas is equivalent to 3 times the total annual GHG emissions of the U.S. Taken together, these emissions would effectively cancel out all of the GHG reductions achieved under Kyoto’s first commitment period.
A large portion of these ODS banks are being rapidly released. According to the IPCC/TEAP Report, left unaddressed, by 2015 more than 6 billion tons of CO2eq will be emitted as CFC and HCFC refrigerants leak or are vented from older equipment.
Neither Montreal nor the Kyoto Protocol control ODS emissions. In most countries, there are no requirements or incentives for recovery and destruction of these materials under domestic regulations, including the U.S. In those countries that have attempted to mandate destruction of ODS, much of the gases have gone unaccounted for – the suspicion has been that equipment owners simply vented rather than comply (which would be a cost to them), and policing the thousands or even millions of diffuse sources is impossible.
Market Potential for ODS Projects
These regulatory gaps leave room for market-based solutions that provide incentives to capture and permanently deal with these materials. There is growing recognition that carbon markets represent an ideal solution. The Chicago Climate Exchange, Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Climate Action Reserve have all established programs to create GHG reduction credits from verified destruction of ODS. Beginning in 2009, Parties to the Montreal Protocol funded pilot ODS projects to examine how voluntary carbon markets could help address remaining ODS banks.
ODS destruction credits are now being issued to projects that intervene in the business-as-usual cycle of recycling CFC refrigerants back into older equipment. Energy used to collect, transport, and destroy the chemicals are factored into net GHG credits. ODS destruction projects meet, and in some ways exceed the criteria for GHG offsets: they are “additional” (i.e., beyond current requirements), predictable, transparent, readily verifiable, and offer immediate and permanent emission reductions. These are important distinctions in an increasingly selective carbon credit market.
Projects Developed and Listed
The Climate Action Reserve has already listed four ODS projects since their adoption of new standards in February 2010, with more expected. Earlier smaller volume projects have been registered under the Chicago Climate Exchange. It is fair to say that absent sufficient incentives from the voluntary and emerging compliance markets, these projects – and those from other project developers – would not be economically viable and those gases would be lost forever.
Policy Leadership Vital
While voluntary carbon markets have been essential in the development of standards and to spur early action, the scope of the problem in the U.S. and globally – requires that ODS destruction be recognized as a compliance credit under emerging compliance markets. As has been the case in many environmental issues, California is once again taking a leadership position by proposing that ODS destruction be included as a regulatory offset under the AB 32 program. This would immediately mobilize more projects in the near term, and needed investment in new technologies and a market transformation in the longer-term.
Recent Congressional bills – Waxman/Markey and Kerry/Lieberman – have also classified ODS destruction as a compliance offset. As of this writing, it remains uncertain whether any federal legislation to address greenhouse gases will emerge, making the action under AB 32 that much more critical.
California’s leadership will not only have important and short-term impacts in the U.S., but will also demonstrate for international policymakers that it is possible to leverage carbon financing to manage ODS banks, preventing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases, and preserve the legacy of the Montreal Protocol.
***
Joe Madden is a Co-founder and CEO of EOS Climate. He has pioneered several voluntary climate programs including LiveNeutral and TransNeutral and is also an Advisor to ATDynamics. Joe has an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and resides in Santa Cruz, CA.
Jill Abelson, an environmental consultant/writer based in San Francisco, has worked on climate change issues since 1996. She supported pioneering advocacy campaigns at the Environmental Information Center (now the National Environmental Trust) and at Greenpeace). For ten years, she was marketing/ communications director for U.S. EPA’s prestigious Energy Star program. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College.
By Jill Abelson & Joe Madden
Last October, on the eve of the Copenhagen talks, Richard Levangie pointed out that climate change isn’t only about carbon dioxide. Doing more to reduce non-CO2 climate change contributors, Levangie reported, “might head global warming off at the pass,” citing Nobel Laureate Dr. Mario Molina and co-authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Calls for near-term action on non-CO2 greenhouse pollutants as a way to slow down climate change have steadily increased since then.
Non CO2 gases typically refer to hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), methane, tropospheric ozone – which are in the Kyoto “basket” of gases, and black carbon. All of these gases are extremely good at absorbing infrared radiation, but can be reduced with readily available technologies or substitutes.
Overlooked until now in the climate change policy discussion is another entire class of non-CO2 greenhouse gases — chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone depleting substances, collectively called ODS. ODS not only destroy the earth’s ozone later, as their name suggests, they are also extremely powerful greenhouse gases — some up to 10,000 times more potent than CO2 pound-for-pound.
Government, industry and environmental groups considered these gases fully controlled under the Montreal Protocol, but that is only partially true as I’ll discuss below. A global effort is now underway to create market-based incentives to prevent large scale emissions of these chemicals.
Background on ODS
Ozone depleting substances (ODS) — including CFC11, CFC12, Halon 1211 and HCFC 22 — have been used in a variety of important applications, including aerosols, refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation foam, solvent cleaning, and fire suppression. The Montreal Protocol, ratified by 195 countries, established legally binding controls on national production of ODS. The Protocol is widely considered an environmental success story: it has succeeded in cutting back production of ODS by 97% from historic baseline levels. Concentrations of CFCs and halons in the stratosphere are showing signs of stabilization, and the ozone layer is expected to recover sometime around 2065.
A New Crossroads: ODS and Climate Change
Despite this success, large quantities of CFCs produced prior to phase-out deadlines remain in use in older equipment and infrastructure, e.g., refrigerators, air conditioners, building chillers, supermarket systems, food warehouses and food processing plants, refineries, building insulation, and fire suppression systems. As a result there is continued demand for reclaimed ODS to replenish old, and often leaky, equipment. A 2005 report by the IPCC and Montreal Protocol Technology and Economic Assessment (TEAP) Panel estimated that global ODS banks, not yet emitted into the atmosphere, represented the equivalent of 21.1 billion tons of CO2 in 2002, approximately 18 billion tons of CO2eq today. This unreleased gas is equivalent to 3 times the total annual GHG emissions of the U.S. Taken together, these emissions would effectively cancel out all of the GHG reductions achieved under Kyoto’s first commitment period.
A large portion of these ODS banks are being rapidly released. According to the IPCC/TEAP Report, left unaddressed, by 2015 more than 6 billion tons of CO2eq will be emitted as CFC and HCFC refrigerants leak or are vented from older equipment.
Neither Montreal nor the Kyoto Protocol control ODS emissions. In most countries, there are no requirements or incentives for recovery and destruction of these materials under domestic regulations, including the U.S. In those countries that have attempted to mandate destruction of ODS, much of the gases have gone unaccounted for – the suspicion has been that equipment owners simply vented rather than comply (which would be a cost to them), and policing the thousands or even millions of diffuse sources is impossible.
Market Potential for ODS Projects
These regulatory gaps leave room for market-based solutions that provide incentives to capture and permanently deal with these materials. There is growing recognition that carbon markets represent an ideal solution. The Chicago Climate Exchange, Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Climate Action Reserve have all established programs to create GHG reduction credits from verified destruction of ODS. Beginning in 2009, Parties to the Montreal Protocol funded pilot ODS projects to examine how voluntary carbon markets could help address remaining ODS banks.
ODS destruction credits are now being issued to projects that intervene in the business-as-usual cycle of recycling CFC refrigerants back into older equipment. Energy used to collect, transport, and destroy the chemicals are factored into net GHG credits. ODS destruction projects meet, and in some ways exceed the criteria for GHG offsets: they are “additional” (i.e., beyond current requirements), predictable, transparent, readily verifiable, and offer immediate and permanent emission reductions. These are important distinctions in an increasingly selective carbon credit market.
Projects Developed and Listed
The Climate Action Reserve has already listed four ODS projects since their adoption of new standards in February 2010, with more expected. Earlier smaller volume projects have been registered under the Chicago Climate Exchange. It is fair to say that absent sufficient incentives from the voluntary and emerging compliance markets, these projects – and those from other project developers – would not be economically viable and those gases would be lost forever.
Policy Leadership Vital
While voluntary carbon markets have been essential in the development of standards and to spur early action, the scope of the problem in the U.S. and globally – requires that ODS destruction be recognized as a compliance credit under emerging compliance markets. As has been the case in many environmental issues, California is once again taking a leadership position by proposing that ODS destruction be included as a regulatory offset under the AB 32 program. This would immediately mobilize more projects in the near term, and needed investment in new technologies and a market transformation in the longer-term.
Recent Congressional bills – Waxman/Markey and Kerry/Lieberman – have also classified ODS destruction as a compliance offset. As of this writing, it remains uncertain whether any federal legislation to address greenhouse gases will emerge, making the action under AB 32 that much more critical.
California’s leadership will not only have important and short-term impacts in the U.S., but will also demonstrate for international policymakers that it is possible to leverage carbon financing to manage ODS banks, preventing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases, and preserve the legacy of the Montreal Protocol.
***
Joe Madden is a Co-founder and CEO of EOS Climate. He has pioneered several voluntary climate programs including LiveNeutral and TransNeutral and is also an Advisor to ATDynamics. Joe has an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and resides in Santa Cruz, CA.
Jill Abelson, an environmental consultant/writer based in San Francisco, has worked on climate change issues since 1996. She supported pioneering advocacy campaigns at the Environmental Information Center (now the National Environmental Trust) and at Greenpeace). For ten years, she was marketing/ communications director for U.S. EPA’s prestigious Energy Star program. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
RemTec International Extends a Five-Year Agreement with DoloMatrix as Exclusive Representative for Plasma Arc ODS Destruction Technology
RemTec International Extends a Five-Year Agreement with DoloMatrix as Exclusive Representative for Plasma Arc ODS Destruction Technology in North America - Producing High Quality Offset Credits for the Carbon Compliance MarketBOWLING GREEN, OH, USA – (Business Wire) – RemTec International, the largest privately-owned reclaimer of halons and refrigerants, announced today the extension of its five year agreement with DoloMatrix International, Ltd., to be the exclusive representative for SRL Plasma’s Plascon® equipment in North America, designed to destroy Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). The Dolomatrix destruction technology along with RemTec’s patented recovery and reclaiming equipment, produces carbon offset credits that exceed the requirements of a newly released Climate Action Reserve (CAR) Ozone Depleting Substances Project Protocol. This protocol delivers permanent greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions for the carbon compliance market.
“The combination of our technologies and services provides the ultimate in transparency, tracking and accountability. In addition, Plasma Arc Destruction is environmentally superior to high temperature incineration.”
“We can provide superior carbon offset credits because the combined technologies of RemTec and Dolomatrix use Technology & Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) testing methodology, specifically designed to measure the destruction of ODS. In addition, our detailed tracking and documentation system follows individual shipments from the source to final destruction. When combined with our online real-time computer monitoring, our system provides complete transparency to carbon offset providers, verifiers and outside regulatory agencies on a 24 hour basis.
“This represents the first phase in our efforts to establish regional facilities that offer cradle to grave management of halons and refrigerant gases that are high ozone depleters, or that are high in global warming potential. In addition to our existing processing plant in Bowling Green, Ohio future operations are also planned in the Middle East and Asia.”
Mr. Marcus concluded by saying, "Through the combination of our proprietary technologies, we are able to offer an enhanced ODS Destruction Protocol. This is very timely, especially considering certain recent Amendments to Senate Bill 1733, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, that were introduced by Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). This Bill specifically recognizes offset credits for ODS destruction for both domestic and international projects.”
ABOUT REMTEC INTERNATIONAL
Established in 1986, RemTec International is a world leader in the recovery, reclamation and destruction of Halons and Refrigerants. RemTec’s Halocarbon Management Program uses patented technologies that avoid emissions that either destroy the ozone layer, or add to global warming potential. RemTec's unique approach facilitates safe disposal of unwanted Halons, CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs on a worldwide basis. These hazardous substances are recovered, reclaimed, and in some cases destroyed in accordance with all domestic and international regulatory standards. For more information, please visit http://www.remtec.net/
RemTec International
1100 Haskins Road
Bowling Green, Ohio, 43402
USA
419-867-8990
419-867-3279 (Facsimile)800-372-1301 (Toll Free / North America)
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