System and method for recycling non-reusable refrigerant containers

1. A method for recycling refrigerant, comprising:

receiving a container having refrigerant content;

determining an identification of the container;

automatically determining a refrigerant content of the container;

removing substantially all refrigerant content from the container; and

accounting for the received container in an automated database.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the container comprises a refrigerant transport container, and the contents comprises residual refrigerant in the refrigerant transport container.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said determining comprises automatically determining a type of refrigerant content of the refrigerant transport container by at least one of reading a machine readable code associated with the refrigerant transport container and determining a color of the refrigerant transport container.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising compressing and storing the residual refrigerant removed from the refrigerant transport container in one of a plurality of available storage vessels selectively in dependence on a type of residual refrigerant.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said determining comprises performing an automated refrigerant composition analysis of the residual refrigerant.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising storing the residual refrigerant in one of a plurality of storage vessels selectively in dependence on a type of refrigerant.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said accounting comprises accounting for at least a deposit on the container.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising puncturing the container within a chamber to allow removal of the refrigerant, and at least one of shredding and compacting the punctured container with at least one of a shredder and a compactor, wherein the at least one of the shredder and the compactor is isolated from the chamber during the puncturing and removing.

9. A system for recycling a refrigerant container having refrigerant content, comprising:

an electronic reader configured to identify the refrigerant container;

an automated control, configured to control processing of the refrigerant container in dependence on the identification;

a compressor configured to compress refrigerant removed from the refrigerant container; and

a plurality of storage vessels, each configured to separately store refrigerant from respective refrigerant containers, wherein the compressed refrigerant from the compressor is stored in a respective storage vessel selectively in dependence on the automated control.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the refrigerant container comprises a refrigerant transport container, and the contents comprises residual refrigerant in the refrigerant transport container.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the automated control is further configured to automatically determine a type of refrigerant content of the refrigerant transport container by at least reading a machine readable code associated with the refrigerant transport container.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the automated control is further configured to automatically determine a type of refrigerant content of the refrigerant transport container by at least reading a color associated with the refrigerant transport container.

13. The system according to claim 10 , further comprising a refrigerant composition analyzer configured to determine a type of refrigerant composition in the refrigerant transport container by performing a refrigerant composition analysis of the residual refrigerant.

14. The system according to claim 13 , further comprising a database configured to account for the recycling of the refrigerant content of the refrigerant container.

15. The system according to claim 9 , further comprising a chamber, wherein the refrigerant container is punctured within the chamber to release the refrigerant content, and at least one of a shredder and a compactor which is isolated from the chamber during the puncturing.

16. The system according to claim 9 , further comprising a database configured to store records for tracking a plurality of refrigerant containers.

17. The system according to claim 9 , further comprising:

an encoding associated with the refrigerant container;

a database storing a record relating to the refrigerant container, said database record relating at least to a deposit charged for the refrigerant container; and

an automated control, configured to update the database record for the refrigerant container based on the refrigerant recycling.

18. A method for implementing a refrigerant container deposit program, comprising:

encoding a refrigerant container;

imposing a deposit on the encoded refrigerant container;

receiving an encoded refrigerant container at a refrigerant recycling facility;

automatically releasing the imposed deposit by updating a database record associated with recycling of refrigerant from the refrigerant container;

automatically removing residual refrigerant from the refrigerant container; and

recycling the encoded container separate from the residual refrigerant.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein:

the refrigerant recycling facility comprises a recycling machine, configured to automatically remove residual refrigerant from the encoded refrigerant transport container with a vacuum pump and to compress the removed residual refrigerant to a form liquid, which is selectively stored in one of a plurality of storage vessels in dependence on a composition of the residual refrigerant.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the composition of the residual refrigerant is automatically determined by a real-time analyzer.