On campus, if you have an air conditioner or anything with refrigerant in it, F&S refrigeration mechanics recover it by separating it, weighing it, and testing it for purity. And as of recently, they sell it.
Kody Egolf, refrigeration mechanic foreperson, attended an ASHRAE convention–the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers–and learned about a buy-back program where companies will pay to take canisters of different refrigerant types saved from across campus. Previously, F&S would foot the bill to get rid of refrigerant remnants.
“Normally for what we sent off in the past, we would have paid about $2,000 to get rid of a load of canisters, and now they pay us about $3,100,” Egolf said. “It’s about a $5,000 gain, which might be a smaller amount in the grand scheme of things for the size and scope of the university. But we’ll probably do that three to five times a year. Instead of spending $10,000 a year, can pay ourselves $10,000-15,000.”
“Pure” Savings
The refrigeration mechanics install, maintain, and repair campus refrigeration equipment, including air conditioning units, ice machines, coolers, freezers, refrigerated lab equipment, and large chillers. F&S refrigeration mechanics are EPA and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) certified.
All sizes and types of air conditioners and other cooling machines, including the high-powered -80 degree freezers meant for specialized research, are brought to Dalkey Archive Press, the homebase for refrigerant recovery. It’s mere steps from the Demirjian Park Stadium and Demirjian Indoor Golf Facility. A separate part of the building houses a special research laboratory that is used to study saltwater fish, anemone, and coral.
Kevin White, who collects, separates, and organizes canisters, is proud to do this type of work.
“I think campus is really well setup for a lot of things like this. You can’t just ‘throw away’ refrigerant. It’s wasteful and it would otherwise go straight to the ozone, plus about a $20,000 fine,” White said.
In a workspace inside Dalkey, White works with recovery pumps and a “Legend” analyzer, a top-of-the-line tool that accurately displays exactly what types of refrigerant is in each canister. Anything above about 96% purity is still paid as if it’s 100%.
“To bring it here and keep it on campus and recover it and keep the work here and for us to use our knowledge, everybody knows we’re doing it, it lets the university know we’re doing something good,” White said.
Fish Pics!
Unrelated but interesting: about those fish!
Dr. Justin Rhodes, a psychology professor and researcher with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology, utilizes the opposite side of the building to house and learn more about the lives of fish neuroscience and genetics. Some of his research is regarding the differences in male and females of the clownfish, the small bright orange fish featured in ‘Finding Nemo.’
Rhodes’ research found, for instance, that given the right circumstances, a male will change gender to become female. For more information about Dr. Rhodes’ work, visit: https://rhodeslab.beckman.illinois.edu.