Determining rate of refrigerant emissions from nonprofessional automotive service through a southern California field study

Vehicle owners in the United States can recharge their vehicles' air conditioning systems with small containers of hydrofluorocarbon-134a (HFC-134a, CH2FCF3). This refrigerant, with a Global Warming Potential of 1430, may be emitted to the atmosphere during the recharging operation and from the residual heel in partially used containers, contributing to climate change. A field study was conducted in southern California to quantify the rate of refrigerant emissions from nonprofessional recharging practices and identify emission mitigation opportunities. Based on the results of the study, an average of 489 g of HFC-134a is used when recharging the sample vehicles with an average nominal charge of 858 g. An average 67% of the container content is effectively charged into the systems, 11% of the refrigerant is released during service, and the remaining 22% is left in the containers after operations are completed. A comparison with two other independent studies indicates that the findings of the current study may be applicable not only to southern California, but also to the entire U.S.