Experimental study of an absorption-based refrigeration driven by ocean thermal energy

Establishing an island-based cold chain is essential for ensuring food storage, vaccine preservation, and fish freezing on islands, which is indispensable for the sustainable development of island communities. The compression-absorption refrigeration system that uses ocean-thermal-energy is ideal for cold storage on islands as it efficiently utilizes local renewable energy sources and can meet refrigeration needs below 0 °C. Therefore, a refrigeration prototype has been constructed and thoroughly experimentally investigated to obtain refrigeration characterization under variations of refrigeration demand and environmental conditions. The system's energy-saving potential is evaluated by conducting comparisons with conventional refrigeration techniques. The results indicate that refrigeration temperature plays a crucial role in determining refrigeration capacity, with an increase of approximately 8.2 % observed for every 1 °C rise in refrigeration temperature. Lower cold-seawater temperatures or higher warm-seawater temperatures do not have a significant effect on the refrigeration capacity, but contribute to a reduction in compressor power due to increased thermally-driven compression force. Consequently, for every 1 °C change, the refrigeration capacity per unit compressor power increases by approximately 4 %. Additionally, the refrigeration capacity of the system is three times greater than that of a vapor-compression-refrigeration-system. The findings provide theoretical and experimental guidelines for the design and operation of refrigeration using ocean-thermal-energy.