Release and attenuation of fluorocarbons in landfills

Several halocarbons with very high global warming and ozone depleting potentials have been used as blowing agent for insulation foam in refrigerators and freezers. Many appliances are shredded after the end of their useful life. Release experiments carried out in the laboratory on insulation foam blown with CFC-11, HCFC-141b, HFC- 134a, and HFC-245fa revealed that most of the blowing agent is not released to the atmosphere during a six-week period following the shredding process. The fraction which is released in the six-week period is highly dependent on how fine the foam is shredded. The residual blowing agent remaining after the six-week period may be very slowly released if the integrity of the foam particles with respect to diffusional properties is kept after disposal of the foam waste in landfills. Laboratory experiments simulating attenuation processes in the landfilled waste and the landfill soil cover showed a substantial degradation of CFC-11 and to a lesser extent of HCFC- 141b which may lead to significant emission reduction of the blowing agents. HFC-134a and HFC-245fa were not degraded in the landfilled waste or the cover soil within the time frame of the experiments (210 days).