World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Oceans could start emitting previously absorbed CFCs

USA: A new study predicts that the oceans will start emitting ozone-depleting CFCs by the middle of next century. 

The world’s oceans are a vast repository for gases including ozone-depleting CFCs. They absorb these gases from the atmosphere and draw them down to the deep, where they can remain sequestered for centuries and more.

Marine CFCs have long been used as tracers to study ocean currents, but their impact on atmospheric concentrations was assumed to be negligible. Now, a team from MIT has found that the oceanic fluxes do in fact affect atmospheric concentrations, at least in the case of CFC11 – a gas once widely used as a refrigerant in air conditioning and refrigeration systems prior to phase out under the Montreal Protocol.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the MIT researchers predict that the global ocean is set to reverse its longtime role as a sink for the potent ozone-depleting chemical. 

The researchers project that by the year 2075, the oceans will emit more CFC11 back into the atmosphere than they absorb, emitting detectable amounts of the chemical by 2130. Further, with increasing climate change, this shift will occur 10 years earlier, they maintain. 

“Generally, a colder ocean will absorb more CFCs,” explained MIT graduate and team member Peidong Wang. “When climate change warms the ocean, it becomes a weaker reservoir and will also outgas a little faster.”

Co-author Dr Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin professor of environmental studies in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, added: “Even if there were no climate change, as CFCs decay in the atmosphere, eventually the ocean has too much relative to the atmosphere, and it will come back out. Climate change, we think, will make that happen even sooner, but the switch is not dependent on climate change.

“By the time you get to the first half of the 22nd century, you’ll have enough of a flux coming out of the ocean that it might look like someone is cheating on the Montreal Protocol, but instead, it could just be what’s coming out of the ocean

“It’s an interesting prediction and hopefully will help future researchers avoid getting confused about what’s going on,” she added.

Latest News

29th March 2024

BUS applications up 75% in February

UK: Applications for grants under the UK government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) in February were 75% higher than during the same month last year, new statistics reveal.
29th March 2024

EBM-Papst opens new Chinese HQ

CHINA: German fans and motors manufacturer EBM-Papst has established a new 33,000m² local headquarters in China, bringing together the company’s previous four locations in Shanghai.
28th March 2024

Hudson warns of unsafe US recovery cylinders

USA: The US refrigerant supplier and reclaimer Hudson Technologies has warned of illegal and unsafe recovery cylinders entering the US market.
28th March 2024

Topical talks at Bath breakfast meeting

UK: The next South West South Wales Refrigeration Society breakfast briefing will feature talks from three experienced and knowledgable speakers on varied refrigeration and air conditioning topics.
28th March 2024

CO2 compressor for multiple applications

ITALY: Frascold’s new TK HD series transcritical CO2 compressors are designed for a wide range of refrigeration and air conditioning applications, as well as high-temperature heat pumps up to 100°C.
28th March 2024

Copeland releases 50hp scroll in Asia

CHINA: US compressor manufacturer Copeland is to launch a 50hp scroll for heat pump OEMs in Asia.