Hudson to develop rapid reclaim technology

USA: Refrigerant reclaimer Hudson Technologies has signed a joint development agreement with US company Icorium for the commercialisation of Icorium’s patented extractive distillation technology.

The collaboration is expected to broaden and complement Hudson’s existing fractional distillation systems with the potential for rapid and more complete processing of more complex refrigerant compositions through Icorium’s single-stream extractive method. 

The technology under development pursues the ability to split complicated refrigerant mixtures into their core components – including azeotropes – with a yield and throughput which Hudson claims has been previously unknown in the industry. 

Hudson says that the ability to separate and purify traditionally difficult refrigerant blends will simplify recovery of used refrigerants by allowing contractors to combine refrigerants in cylinders, reducing onsite recovery time and also enabling Hudson to extract the maximum refrigerant possible from every pound of refrigerant recovered, thereby producing a faster transition from stock to saleable product.

The joint development agreement provides Hudson with dedicated access to Icorium’s engineering resources, access to Icorium intellectual property related to refrigerant separation technologies, exclusivity and first-mover advantages during the initial commercialisation period, as well as early access to additional separation technologies which may create further opportunities for expansion into new markets.

“This agreement marks a significant milestone for us as we execute our strategy to expand our offerings beyond traditional refrigerant sales and reclamation to include a premier technology-driven platform for recovery, purification, and separation services,” explained Ken Gaglione, president and CEO of Hudson Technologies. 

“With Icorium’s technology, we seek to separate complex refrigerant blends with greater speed and efficiency than traditional fractional distillation, substantially enhancing our capabilities and capacity. The ability to convert a broader range of refrigerants into saleable product would create a differentiated competitive advantage for Hudson as our industry moves from conventional to next-generation equipment and refrigerants.”

Founded in 2022 as a University of Kansas spinout, Icorium is headquartered at KU Innovation Park in Lawrence, Kansas. Its proprietary separation technology, built on ionic liquid-based extractive distillation, hollow fibre membranes and pressure swing adsorption using porous materials, recovers high-purity refrigerants from complex mixtures.