Why SF6 Gas Should Be Recovery,pufication,drying By SF6 Gas Recovery Machine

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Why SF6 Gas should be recovery, pufication, drying by SF6 Gas recovery machine

October 8,2026.

SF6 gas needs to be recovered and filtered for three main reasons: safety, environmental protection, and economy. Recovery and filtration are not just for saving money but also to prevent toxic substances from harming people, to stop a potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere, and to avoid equipment failures. The SF6 Gas Recovery Machine can has functions of SF6 gas recovery, purification, drying, storage and filling.

Safety: Decomposition products are toxic and directly threaten people and equipment

Pure SF6 is non-toxic, but once an arc discharge, corona, or partial discharge occurs in electrical equipment, it decomposes into substances such as HF (hydrofluoric acid), SO₂, SOF₂, which are highly toxic and strongly corrosive.

Harm to humans: SF6 containing decomposition products can irritate the eyes, nose, and mouth, and high concentrations pose health risks.

Damage to equipment: When decomposition products encounter water, they form corrosive electrolytes, corroding internal metal components and reducing insulation performance; moisture can also condense on insulation surfaces, causing surface discharges (tracking), forming a vicious cycle of "decomposition-corrosion-redecomposition."

It is strictly forbidden to release SF6 from equipment directly into cable trenches or the atmosphere. It must be extracted and purified using recovery devices before reuse.

Environmental protection: greenhouse effect is over 20,000 times that of CO₂

SF6 is one of the six greenhouse gases listed in the Kyoto Protocol, with a global warming potential about 22,800–23,900 times that of CO₂ and a lifespan in the atmosphere of around 3,200 years.

Emitting 1 kg of SF6 has the same warming effect as emitting about 23 tons of CO₂. In 2021, SF6 emissions in China were about 4,400 tons, equivalent to approximately 103 million tons of CO₂.

By 2025, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued the CCER methodology, including the recovery and purification of SF6 from electrical equipment as part of voluntary greenhouse gas reduction projects, with a baseline recovery and purification rate set at 90%.

Economy: Gas is expensive and can be reused after purification

SF6 is costly. If it is released directly during equipment maintenance or retirement, it is both wasteful and requires repurchasing the gas. After recovery and purification, it can be recharged repeatedly, significantly reducing operating costs.

Currently, recovery and purification technology is approaching a 95% limit, and GRT SF6 gas recovery machine usually use a 90-95% recovery and purification rate as the baseline, which is both technically feasible and economically reasonable.

What exactly does the filtration remove?

GRT SF6 Gas Recovery, purification, drying, storage and filling system in recovery devices generally uses a combination of a drying filter (molecular sieve) + adsorbent + dust filter, mainly removing these types of impurities:

Moisture: to prevent decomposition product hydrolysis and equipment condensation tracking.

Decomposition products: such as HF, SO₂, and other acidic toxic substances.

Oil: contamination from compressors, etc.

Solid particles: dust from internal equipment wear or arcing.

The purified SF6 must be tested for purity and can only be recharged into equipment if it meets the standards, generally requiring moisture ≤ 60 PPM/V and oil ≤ 3–5 PPM/W.

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