El Salvador.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) developed awareness days and technical training on the management of substances that do not deteriorate the ozone layer and have a low impact on global warming included in new refrigerant equipment technologies.
Trainers, importers and technicians from the domestic refrigeration area, key sectors in the use of technology and equipment with hydrocarbons, as well as from the industrial and commercial area participated in these workshops.
Óscar Brizuela, a textile worker and refrigeration technician, expressed his satisfaction at updating his knowledge: "I am interested in knowing the new technologies that are emerging, the refrigerator is quite incredible how it is working and the pressures it handles is quite important. It is rare that a refrigerator can work in a vacuum when it has to have a certain PSI in low and the consumption it has of amperage, it is super cheap to have a cold like this and it will be important to know it thoroughly because as technicians we have to face this every day and it is more than clear that we know it to take care of the environment. "
The training included both theory and practice. Rubén Bonilla, coordinator of Montreal Protocol projects that are implemented by the MARN, explained that "we have equipment to carry out the practices with natural refrigerant that come in the factory equipment and that are already on the market."
The expert Omarly Acevedo, international consultant in charge of providing the training (She has also written for the ACR Latin America and has been a lecturer at RefriAméricas), explained that in the issue of refrigeration flammable natural substances are being used, which were not previously used as hydrocarbons, as well as other refrigerants including ammonia and CO2. "It is something that is not so novel, because these were used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is like going back to the old technology only already knowing it better and with innovations that make it can be used safely."
On hydrocarbons, the Colombian specialist said that there should be no predisposition with these substances. "They (the technicians are very afraid) because it's flammable and they think it explodes. Yes, it has a certain risk if it is given a bad handling, because it can produce a flame; but if the safety conditions are good, the refrigerant is totally safe. The cooling system remains the same, the tools too, the procedures are going to be a little different so you have to do very good practices to avoid risks."
These trainings are given the framework of compliance with the Montreal Protocol, of which El Salvador is in "remarkable compliance" recognized by the Multilateral Fund of the Protocol. In the country, since 2010 they have been prohibited from importing the group of Ozone Depleting Substances known as Chlorine Fluoro Carbons (CFCs) that were also used as refrigerants and foaming agents. At the end of this training day there are 175 technicians who have training to apply the new technology and continue the process of training new technicians in the refrigeration area using natural refrigerants.
Natural refrigerants:
- Natural (or "unspectacular") refrigerants are chemicals that occur in nature's biochemical processes. They do not deplete the ozone layer and make a negligible contribution (or zero in the case of Ammonia R-717) to global warming.
- The high efficiency of natural refrigerants means that they make a much smaller and indirect contribution to global warming compared to various synthetic refrigerants.
- These products were used before the fifties prior to the production of fluorocarbon and, today, are used much more due to their low impact on the environment.
Source: Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
