A team spearheaded by Dr. (Mrs.) MA Wijewardane has provided technical support to the Country Assessment Report for the Implementation of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone, recently published (December 2020) by the Air Resources Management and National Ozone Unit of Ministry of Environment Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is participating in the Montreal Protocol and has ratified the Kigali Amendment in September 2018. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the usage of 18 hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) based refrigerants in both industrial and domestic refrigerators in Sri Lanka, as these 18 HFCs are identified as controlled substances in the Kigali Amendment. The team of nearly 30 individuals, consisting senior lecturers of the Thermo-Fluids and Energy group, junior lecturers, instructors, and students of the Department, spent several months collecting and analysing data, and preparing this invaluable report. The team started collecting data in June 2019, visiting various end users including large factories, airports, harbours, households and even multi day fishing boats. They completed data collection by November 2019 and data analyses, graphical representation, report preparation and publication by December 2020 despite the challenges and interruptions posed by the COVID-19 situation. The Department of Mechanical Engineering appreciate the efforts of Dr. Wijewardane and the team to support our country in the implementation of Kigali Amendment by evaluating possible greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with high global warming potential (GWP).
