Vital medical equipment wins F-gas ban reprieve
5th January 2025
EUROPE: Certain types of specialist low temperature laboratory and medical equipment have been granted a temporary exemption from a European F-gas regulation ban which came into force on January 1.
The equipment concerned would be included under the January 1 ban on self-contained refrigeration equipment using refrigerants with a GWP of 150 or more, but successful appeals by Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have brought exemptions of up to four years.
The equipment includes critical medical cryogenic freezers and equipment for blood plasma storage and transportation and all currently employ equipment using refrigerants above 150 GWP. More time was requested to come up with alternatives for reasons due to the complexity of the equipment and safety, performance and reliability concerns.
The German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety was successful in winning an exemption until 31 December 2028 for environmental simulation devices consisting of a test chamber used to reproduce a variety of environmental conditions, such as time-dependent temperature and humidity, for applications below -50°C; laboratory drying equipment used for the drying of liquid samples, by spray-drying or by freeze-drying; laboratory centrifuges used for separating fluids of different densities or liquids from solids in a rapidly rotating container.
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment was successful in its request for a four-year exemption for mechanical cryogenic freezers (-150ºC) used in the storage of living organisms, cells and tissues. These are seen as critical applications mostly in the fields of science and healthcare.
Luxembourg’s Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure successfully requested a two-year exemption for blood transport boxes and blood plasma contact shock freezers. Blood transport boxes are single systems for blood collection, storage and delivery that keep the contents at a protective and stable temperature between 2°C to 6°C, or platelet components between 20°C to 24°C. Blood plasma contact shock freezers are devices used for the rapid freezing of blood plasma to a core temperature of -30°C.
The foodservice industry also recently obtained a temporary exemption to certain types of equipment under Annex IV (4) of the same 2024/573 regulation.
