A-Gas International, one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of refrigerants, environmental services, and specialty gases and chemicals, announced that it has acquired RemTec International, a leading refrigerant reclamation company, and Coolgas Inc., a leading independent supplier and distributor of refrigerants.

In response to the accelerated phaseout of HCFCs, Indianapolis-based refrigerant producer ICOR International has expanded its refrigerant reclamation operations.

It has been an interesting — and complicated — year when it comes to refrigerants. The year began with cutbacks in HCFC production. We had expected there to be about 90 million pounds of virgin R-22 in 2012, down a bit from 2011. But the EPA proposed at the most 80 million pounds and at the least 55 million.

In anticipation of a greater reliance on reclamation, those providing such reclaim services have been looking at ways to serve contractor customers faster and more efficiently. An example is the announcement from Airgas Refrigerants Inc. of what it calls “a new approach and new technology for its reclamation business.”

Whether we like it or not, R-22 is going away, and technicians need to look at their best options and solutions to work with the phaseout. One option available to all competent service technicians is to recover and recycle refrigerant.