What equipment is commonly used to remove oil from a recovered refrigerant?

An oil separator or suitable recycling equipment is specifically designed to remove oil from recovered refrigerant during the recovery process. When refrigerants are recovered from automotive air conditioning systems, they often contain some oil that lubricates the compressor. The presence of oil in the refrigerant can contaminate it, affecting the efficiency of recycling and reusing the refrigerant.

The oil separator effectively distinguishes between the oil and the refrigerant, allowing for the retrieval of clean refrigerant for recycling without the oil residue. This practice is essential for meeting environmental regulations and ensuring the refrigerant can be reused without degrading the system's performance or increasing the risk of damage.

Other equipment listed, like a vacuum pump, is typically used to create a vacuum in the system to remove air and moisture, while a thermal expansion valve and compressor serve different roles in the air conditioning system itself, such as regulating refrigerant flow and compressing refrigerant vapor, respectively. Thus, these options do not perform the specific function of separating oil from recovered refrigerant.