The production and import of R22 fluorocarbon refrigerant which has been used for freezing and refrigerating for business purposes will end effective on December 31, 2019.

Before the upcoming abolition of R22, there is a boom of special procurement now for cylinders of 100ℓ for stockpiling and 20ℓ for supplying, of which production is 1.3 to 2 times more than the usual year. Some manufacturers are forced to refuse any more order for production due to the difficulty to cope with the situation.

In 1960s R22 used to be prevalent as a substitute of the ammonia refrigerant which was then the main player. It was extensively adopted with its properties of non-toxicity and the wide zone of temperatures to cover in comparison with the other refrigerants.
The total abolition of production and import of R22 dates back to 1987 when the Montreal Protocol was adopted. In the Protocol, a plan was made out to reduce the production of R22 sequentially from 2004 targeting the year of 2020 for realization by the developed countries and 2030 by the developing countries.

In the meantime, there is no expiration date for use of R22 of which production is planned for a total abolition. Users may keep using the freezing and air-conditioning compatible with R22 even after 2020.
Gas distributors are planning to stockpile R22 into 100ℓ class cylinders within 2019, and subdivide it for filling into 20ℓ cylinders in and after 2020.

SK Cylinder Expects Two-times more R22 Cylinders and Chugoku Kogyo 1.3 times more

SK Cylinder which also produces high-pressure gas cylinders expects to produce 20 thousand cylinders for R22 in FY2019 (closing in December) which is about two times more than last year.
The 100ℓ cylinder for stockpiling will be roughly doubled to 16 thousand, while the 20 to 25ℓ cylinder for recycling and supplying seems to go flat roughly at a pace of 4 thousand.

The staff-member in charge said, “Our priority aim is to fill R22 within the year must have caused jumping-up of the demand for large 100ℓ cylinders. The total abolition had been decided long before, but request for ordering started in March 2019. Probably the distributors counted backward the schedule of allowable filling of R22 and judged the deadline as March.”

Chugoku Kogyo which boasts its top sharing position in the production of welded cylinders estimates the production of 5 thousand cylinders for R22 which is an increase by 25% in 2019. The 120ℓ cylinders will go flat roughly at a pace of 3 thousand, while the 24ℓ cylinders will probably be doubled to about 2 thousand.

Kazuya Kiyama manager of Osaka Branch said, “We first placed top priority upon 120ℓ cylinders keeping 24ℓ cylinder for production after the planned total abolition. However, as there was some room in the 24ℓ, we now produce some cylinders advancing the schedule which was first planned for production early next year.”

In addition, the company is refusing some of requests for the production of 120ℓ cylinders due to the rush of enquiries. As a countermeasure, the company is going to cover it using a ton container which allows filling 980 kg of R22.The distributors will fill R22 into a ton container. The company has already produced nearly 200 cylinders which is 10 times more than the previous year, and is planning to fill it back to the easily dividable 120ℓ cylinders after early next year when the special demand may have subsided.