Brief Overview of Your Career
• Experienced operations leader with extensive experience in the chemicals industry.
• Passionate about optimizing organizational efficiency, enhancing processes and driving sustainable growth.
• Proven track record of successfully leading teams to achieve optimal business outcomes, streamlining operations, continuous improvement, and implementing cost-effective strategies.
• Highly skilled in Operations Management, Workplace Safety, Dangerous Goods, Risk Management, Process Scheduler, Strategic Planning, Supervisory Skills, and Customer Satisfaction.
• A key member of the executive team, I am currently the Operations Director APAC at A-Gas and am responsible for overseeing multiple operational sites across the Asia-Pacific region including Australia (two sites), New Zealand (newly established site in 2023), Singapore, Japan, Thailand and China.
• 2018 – Present: Operations Director APAC, A-Gas Overseeing operations in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and China.
• 2012 – 2018: Operations Manager, A-Gas (Australia) Pty Ltd A-Gas Australia acquired Technochem Australia Pty Ltd in February 2012. As a result of that acquisition, Jamie Ross joined the A-Gas team as Operations Manager, overseeing operational sites in Laverton North and Melton, Victoria, Australia.
• 2008–2012: Managing Director, Refrigerant Reclaim Services Mobile refrigerant recovery service was initially launched into the automotive industry to help reduce the emissions of refrigerants from damaged or written-off vehicles by removing the refrigerant before dismantling.
• 2002 – 2012: General/Sales/Operations Manager, Technochem Australia Pty Ltd
Jamie was instrumental in the start-up of Technochem Australia. What started as a modest setup in the early 2000s saw the business grow significantly with the products, quality and level of service we provided to the industry. In 2006, the setup and move to our new state-of-the-art facility in Melton South started. This was completed and fully operational by 2008.
Major Challenges and Trends Impacting the Energy (Refrigerants/HVAC-R) Industry
• Refrigeration and air conditioning are a critical part of modernday living. It’s so entrenched in our everyday lives that we often don’t even know how vital it is to the comfort and well-being of how we live. We need it to cool our homes, buildings, and vehicles and keep our food and medical supplies safe. • Legacy refrigeration and cooling systems use synthetic gases called hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and/or hydrofluorocarbon (HFC). When leaked into the atmosphere, these substances cause significant damage to our environment. HCFCs deplete the earth’s protective ozone layer, and both HCFCs and HFCs are potent greenhouse gases that substantively contribute to climate warming.
• Under the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol, a global phasedown of the production, import and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) has begun.
• As the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) industry grapples to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are a variety of options to help the industry move away from high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants. There are three broad options: replace the equipment, retrofit the gas with lower GWP alternatives, or rely on reclaimed (recycled) refrigerant.
• Reclaimed refrigerant will become an increasing part of the supply mix as it is, as there simply won’t be enough refrigerant in the market to meet demand. So there needs to be enough reclaimed refrigerant around to fill the gap. There also needs to be significant capacity within the industry to process this reclaimed refrigerant and, at A-Gas, we have the global expertise and capability to support the industry.
• I am particularly excited the most about this opportunity because, for over 30 years now, A-Gas’ focus on innovative solutions has ensured the lifecycle of refrigerants and other products is maximized.
Always having that continuous improvement mind-set and challenging ourselves every day
• Our state-of-the-art gas separation technology provides us with the capability to separate previously non-reclaimable products, remove contaminants and repurpose existing resources, rather than turning to disposal and having to rely on virgin products being created. This approach minimizes waste by extending the product lifecycle and embracing the principles of the circular economy.
• Used refrigerants sent to A-Gas process facilities undergo thorough chemical analysis at our onsite laboratories and are processed through mechanisms such as filtering, dying, noncondensable gas removal, separation/distillation using our world-leading separation technology and then reclaimed to meet the equivalent virgin product standard air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration Institute (AHRI) 700 standard. The separation and reclamation process for mixed refrigerant requirements is a significant investment and technical expertise. The use of poorly reclaimed products may create equipment operational inefficiencies and higher energy demand as a result.
• This is an excellent example of the circular economy at work–the opposite of the take, make and dispose of model– forcing us to seek greater efficiencies and make better use of what we already have. It saves on raw material usage, energy consumption and unnecessary activities associated with virgin refrigerant gas production.
Major Predicaments in the Energy (Refrigerants/ HVAC-R) Industry
• The active phasedown of high global warming refrigerants and the transition to lower global warming potential gases is certainly a step forward to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses around the world are embracing more environmentally friendly alternatives and new technologies to phase out harmful gases, but the transition to lower GWP gases alone won’t be enough to meet net-zero targets.
• The technology and processes to recover, reclaim and re-use existing gases already in the market are currently available, but governments and authorities need to offer more incentive to enable it to be easier and more economical to access.
Latest Project Some of the Technological and Process Elements Leveraged to Make the Project Successful
• Earlier this year, A-Gas announced that it is rolling out the latest version of its PyroPlas® technology for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region. For more than a decade, A-Gas has operated PyroPlas® technology to successfully and safely destroy thousands of tons of ozone-depleting substances at its Bowling Green facility in the USA, but I am now leading the project to develop a PyroPlas® destruction facility unit in Melbourne, Australia. New staff have been recruited and plans are well underway to have this proven destruction technology available to customers in Australia and New Zealand by 2024.
• This newly developed equipment will deal effectively with halons, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and mixtures of all previous generations of used refrigerants, as well as an increase in the prevalence of flammables.
• This United Nations approved, TEAP-certified technology, delivers the industry’s highest guaranteed and proven destruction efficiency at a minimum of 99.9999 percent.
• I’m extremely excited about leading this important investment for A-Gas as it continues to grow its footprint across Asia-Pacific and beyond by supporting responsible refrigerant recovery practices for reclamation or destruction.
Technological Trends for the Future of the Energy (Refrigerants/Hvac-R) Industry
• Widespread implementation of the Kigali Amendment and the active phase-down of HFCs is a step forward to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While finding energy-efficient, safe and lower global warming alternatives to high global warming HFC gases are part of the solution, equally so is providing an effective lifecycle refrigerant management (LRM) solution for all the legacy refrigerants.
• LRM alone won’t solve the global climate change challenges, but it is an effective and deliverable circular economy solution that works in harmony with the Montreal Protocol to help achieve net zero goals faster. It goes beyond the transition to lower GWP products and focuses primarily on saving emissions and preventing the need for the production of virgin refrigerants. It focuses on avoiding and reducing refrigerant leaks, promoting refrigerant recovery, and increasing reclamation rates to mitigate unnecessary refrigerant use and emissions.
• I am excited and proud to be working for a company that is a global leader in this space. Using our custom-designed equipment (separation technology and high-speed refrigerant recovery equipment) and forward-thinking processes, A-Gas can recover, reclaim, and repurpose (or safely destroy) used refrigerants on a global basis.
• It is clear that reducing leakage and recovering refrigerants for future re-use, or destruction, combined with moving to lower global warming products, will have the greatest beneficial impact on our climate.
Adapting and Growing
• Constantly listening to what our customers need and understanding what we can do to support them and the industry better.
• Understanding the technology that is available, and how we can adapt it, to improve our business and offerings.
• Keep learning by listening to the great team and colleagues I have around me.
• Always have that continuous improvement mindset and challenge yourself every day
