Impact of leakage during HFC-125 production on the increase in HCFC-123 and HCFC-124 emissions

Abstract. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are ozone-depleting substances whose production and consumption have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol in non-Article 5 (mainly developed) countries and are currently being phased out in the rest of the world. Here, we focus on two HCFCs, HCFC-123 and HCFC-124, whose emissions are not decreasing globally in line with their phase-out. We present the first measurement-derived estimates of global HCFC-123 emissions (1993–2023) and updated HCFC-124 emissions for 1978–2023. Around 5 Gg yr−1 of HCFC-123 and 3 Gg yr−1 of HCFC-124 were emitted in 2023. Both HCFC-123 and HCFC-124 are intermediates in the production of HFC-125, a non-ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that has replaced ozone-depleting substances in many applications. We show that it is possible that the observed global increase in HCFC-124 emissions could be entirely due to leakage from the production of HFC-125, provided that its leakage rate is around 1 % by mass of HFC-125 production. Global emissions of HCFC-123 have not decreased despite its phase-out for production under the Montreal Protocol, and its use in HFC-125 production may be a contributing factor to this. Emissions of HCFC-124 from western Europe, the USA and East Asia have either fallen or not increased since 2015 and together cannot explain the entire increase in the derived global emissions of HCFC-124. These findings add to the growing evidence that emissions of some ozone-depleting substances are increasing due to leakage and improper destruction during fluorochemical production.

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Publication Details

Journal
Atmospheric chemistry and physics
Published
2025-12-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17761-2025
Primary Topic
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Impact of leakage during HFC-125 production on the increase in HCFC-123 and HCFC-124 emissions

Jens Mühle, Isaac Vimont, Ronald G. Prinn, Jgor Arduini et al.
Atmospheric chemistry and physics
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
article

Impact of leakage during HFC-125 production on the increase in HCFC-123 and HCFC-124 emissions

Jens Mühle, Isaac Vimont, Ronald G. Prinn, Jgor Arduini, Lei Hu, Stephen Bourguet, Alistair J. Manning, David Nance, Ray F. Weiss, Luke M. Western, Kieran Stanley, Hélène De Longueville, Dickon Young, Dominique Rust, Stefan Reimann, Andreas Engel, Christina M. Harth, Anita L. Ganesan, Michela Maione, Chris Lunder, Martin K. Vollmer, Minde An, Paul J. Fraser, Molly Crotwell, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Simon O’Doherty, Paul B. Krummel, Matthew Rigby, S. A. Montzka, Sunyoung Park, Roland Schmidt, Peter K. Salameh
article en

Abstract

Abstract. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are ozone-depleting substances whose production and consumption have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol in non-Article 5 (mainly developed) countries and are currently being phased out in the rest of the world. Here, we focus on two HCFCs, HCFC-123 and HCFC-124, whose emissions are not decreasing globally in line with their phase-out. We present the first measurement-derived estimates of global HCFC-123 emissions (1993–2023) and updated HCFC-124 emissions for 1978–2023. Around 5 Gg yr−1 of HCFC-123 and 3 Gg yr−1 of HCFC-124 were emitted in 2023. Both HCFC-123 and HCFC-124 are intermediates in the production of HFC-125, a non-ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that has replaced ozone-depleting substances in many applications. We show that it is possible that the observed global increase in HCFC-124 emissions could be entirely due to leakage from the production of HFC-125, provided that its leakage rate is around 1 % by mass of HFC-125 production. Global emissions of HCFC-123 have not decreased despite its phase-out for production under the Montreal Protocol, and its use in HFC-125 production may be a contributing factor to this. Emissions of HCFC-124 from western Europe, the USA and East Asia have either fallen or not increased since 2015 and together cannot explain the entire increase in the derived global emissions of HCFC-124. These findings add to the growing evidence that emissions of some ozone-depleting substances are increasing due to leakage and improper destruction during fluorochemical production.

Atmospheric chemistry and physicsVol. 25(23)
Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (AU), Met Office (GB), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), Georgetown University (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), University of Urbino (IT), Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (DE), Kyungpook National University (KR), University of Bristol (GB), University of California San Diego (US), Kjeller Innovasjon (Norway) (NO), Soft Imaging LLC (United States) (US), Institute for Sustainability (GB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (CH)
Met Office
Openalex Percentile: Top 57%
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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