Production and importation of HCFC refrigerants including R-22 have been on hold since the first of the year while the industry waits for an official go-ahead from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The world of so-called natural refrigerants, particularly hydrocarbons (HCs), has gotten a lot more interesting recently. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given Significant New Alternatives Program (SNAP) approval to three HCs.

How much HCFC-22 will be available to contractors in 2012 is an unanswered question as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers a faster phaseout of HCFCs. The EPA began the year by issuing a proposal called Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import, and Export.

HCFC-22 may not have been historically a refrigeration refrigerant, but it sure has been high on the minds of those wholesalers who deal with a lot of refrigeration products.

What will it take to jump-start more use of reclaimed HCFC-22 to service the huge inventory of equipment running on that refrigerant? The EPA and the dozens of companies offering reclamation services are hoping the most recent announcement of a potential 45 percent reduction in virgin R-22 coming to market.

How ready are contractors to embrace refrigerant reclamation? The answer depends on who you talk to. But some contractors are already plugged into the reclamation option — and hoping their colleagues, who might not be doing so, will soon join them.

If and when contractors step up their commitment to reclamation, they will find plenty of places ready to perform the process that brings questionable refrigerant back to ARI-700 purity standards. And contractors will also find plenty of incentives to do so.