IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v188y2023ics1364032123006639.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hunting sustainable refrigerants fulfilling technical, environmental, safety and economic requirements

Author

Listed:
  • Albà, C.G.
  • Alkhatib, I.I.I.
  • Llovell, F.
  • Vega, L.F.

Abstract

An urgent action to mitigate climate change is the replacement of hydrofluorocarbons used in refrigeration systems, for low-global warming potential (GWP) alternatives, with stringent legislations in place. However, very limited options exist for single-component low-GWP refrigerants with similar technical performance. This work presents an integrated approach for the rational design of low-GWP refrigerant blends, focused on replacing R134a (GWP 1430), and R410A (GWP 2088), used in automotive and domestic air-conditioning, and in high pressure commercial and industrial refrigeration, respectively. A 4 E analysis (energy, exergy, economic and environmental) was employed to select suitable candidates. The molecular polar soft-SAFT theory was used in a predictive manner to fill the gap in thermodynamic data required for evaluating the technical performance based on initial selection criteria including GWP, toxicity, flammability, and degree of azeotropy. Potential candidates from a pool of 432 options were narrowed down and evaluated using a drop-in analysis to replace the working fluids R134a and R410A in today's refrigeration and air conditioning cycles, resulting in seven promising blends. Environmental and cost rate evaluation (geographically dependent based on electricity cost, HFC utilization taxes, and carbon emission factors) quantified the impact associated with their use and emissions, allowing to identify suitable replacements: three blends for replacing R134a: (90/10) wt.% R1243yf + R152a, (90/10) wt.% R1243yf + R134a, and (60/40) wt.% R1243zf + R1234ze(E), and one for replacing R410A: (90/10) wt.% R1123 + R32. This work showcases the importance of using robust thermodynamic models in the search of low-GWP refrigerants blends, considering the 4 E criteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Albà, C.G. & Alkhatib, I.I.I. & Llovell, F. & Vega, L.F., 2023. "Hunting sustainable refrigerants fulfilling technical, environmental, safety and economic requirements," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:188:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123006639
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123006639
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113806?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giménez-Prades, P. & Navarro-Esbrí, J. & Arpagaus, C. & Fernández-Moreno, A. & Mota-Babiloni, A., 2022. "Novel molecules as working fluids for refrigeration, heat pump and organic Rankine cycle systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Luo, Dong & Mahmoud, Ahmad & Cogswell, Frederick, 2015. "Evaluation of Low-GWP fluids for power generation with Organic Rankine Cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 481-488.
    3. Mota-Babiloni, Adrián & Navarro-Esbrí, Joaquín & Barragán-Cervera, Ángel & Molés, Francisco & Peris, Bernardo, 2015. "Drop-in analysis of an internal heat exchanger in a vapour compression system using R1234ze(E) and R450A as alternatives for R134a," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1636-1644.
    4. Arpagaus, Cordin & Bless, Frédéric & Uhlmann, Michael & Schiffmann, Jürg & Bertsch, Stefan S., 2018. "High temperature heat pumps: Market overview, state of the art, research status, refrigerants, and application potentials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 985-1010.
    5. Makhnatch, Pavel & Mota-Babiloni, Adrián & López-Belchí, Alejandro & Khodabandeh, Rahmatollah, 2019. "R450A and R513A as lower GWP mixtures for high ambient temperature countries: Experimental comparison with R134a," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 223-235.
    6. Harby, K., 2017. "Hydrocarbons and their mixtures as alternatives to environmental unfriendly halogenated refrigerants: An updated overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1247-1264.
    7. Lars T. Ruig & Toon Haer & Hans Moel & Samuel D. Brody & W. J. Wouter Botzen & Jeffrey Czajkowski & Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts, 2022. "Climate-proofing the National Flood Insurance Program," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(11), pages 975-976, November.
    8. Abas, Naeem & Kalair, Ali Raza & Khan, Nasrullah & Haider, Aun & Saleem, Zahid & Saleem, Muhammad Shoaib, 2018. "Natural and synthetic refrigerants, global warming: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 557-569.
    9. Mota-Babiloni, Adrián & Navarro-Esbrí, Joaquín & Makhnatch, Pavel & Molés, Francisco, 2017. "Refrigerant R32 as lower GWP working fluid in residential air conditioning systems in Europe and the USA," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1031-1042.
    10. Wu, Di & Hu, Bin & Wang, R.Z., 2021. "Vapor compression heat pumps with pure Low-GWP refrigerants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Costs And Benefits Of The Paris Climate Targets," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(04), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Ahamed, J.U. & Saidur, R. & Masjuki, H.H., 2011. "A review on exergy analysis of vapor compression refrigeration system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1593-1600, April.
    13. Bolaji, B.O. & Huan, Z., 2013. "Ozone depletion and global warming: Case for the use of natural refrigerant – a review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 49-54.
    14. Ryan L. Li & Joshua H. P. Studholme & Alexey V. Fedorov & Trude Storelvmo, 2022. "Precipitation efficiency constraint on climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(7), pages 642-648, July.
    15. Mark O. McLinden & J. Steven Brown & Riccardo Brignoli & Andrei F. Kazakov & Piotr A. Domanski, 2017. "Limited options for low-global-warming-potential refrigerants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, April.
    16. Kasaeian, Alibakhsh & Hosseini, Seyed Mohsen & Sheikhpour, Mojgan & Mahian, Omid & Yan, Wei-Mon & Wongwises, Somchai, 2018. "Applications of eco-friendly refrigerants and nanorefrigerants: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 91-99.
    17. Ocde, 2022. "L'éducation à l'action climatique," L'enseignement à la loupe 44, OECD Publishing.
    18. Katherine R. H. Wagner, 2022. "Designing insurance for climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(12), pages 1070-1072, December.
    19. Mota-Babiloni, Adrián & Belman-Flores, J.M. & Makhnatch, Pavel & Navarro-Esbrí, Joaquín & Barroso-Maldonado, J.M., 2018. "Experimental exergy analysis of R513A to replace R134a in a small capacity refrigeration system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 99-110.
    20. ., 2022. "Climate change," Chapters, in: Rethinking Agricultural and Food Policy, chapter 7, pages 119-136, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Griffiths, Steve & Kim, Jinsoo & Bazilian, Morgan, 2021. "Climate change and industrial F-gases: A critical and systematic review of developments, sociotechnical systems and policy options for reducing synthetic greenhouse gas emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    22. Qin, Yanbin & Li, Nanxi & Zhang, Hua & Liu, Baolin, 2021. "Energy and exergy analysis of a Linde-Hampson refrigeration system using R170, R41 and R1132a as low-GWP refrigerant blend components to replace R23," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    23. Adamson, Keri-Marie & Walmsley, Timothy Gordon & Carson, James K. & Chen, Qun & Schlosser, Florian & Kong, Lana & Cleland, Donald John, 2022. "High-temperature and transcritical heat pump cycles and advancements: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kasaeian, Alibakhsh & Hosseini, Seyed Mohsen & Sheikhpour, Mojgan & Mahian, Omid & Yan, Wei-Mon & Wongwises, Somchai, 2018. "Applications of eco-friendly refrigerants and nanorefrigerants: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 91-99.
    2. Pata, Ugur Korkut & Kartal, Mustafa Tevfik & Erdogan, Sinan & Sarkodie, Samuel Asumadu, 2023. "The role of renewable and nuclear energy R&D expenditures and income on environmental quality in Germany: Scrutinizing the EKC and LCC hypotheses with smooth structural changes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    3. Feng, Chunyu & Guo, Cong & Chen, Junbin & Tan, Sicong & Jiang, Yuyan, 2024. "Thermodynamic analysis of a dual-pressure evaporation high-temperature heat pump with low GWP zeotropic mixtures for steam generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    4. Giménez-Prades, P. & Navarro-Esbrí, J. & Arpagaus, C. & Fernández-Moreno, A. & Mota-Babiloni, A., 2022. "Novel molecules as working fluids for refrigeration, heat pump and organic Rankine cycle systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    5. Kim, Seokmin & Koop, Anthony & Fowler, Glenn & Israel, Kimberly & Takeuchi, Yu & Lieurance, Deah, 2023. "Addition of finer scale data and uncertainty analysis increases precision of geospatial suitability model for non-native plants in the US," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 484(C).
    6. Xu, Weicong & Zhao, Ruikai & Deng, Shuai & Zhao, Li & Mao, Samuel S., 2021. "Is zeotropic working fluid a promising option for organic Rankine cycle: A quantitative evaluation based on literature data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Kumma, Nagarjuna & Kruthiventi, S.S Harish, 2024. "Current status of refrigerants used in domestic applications: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    8. Piyanut Saengsikhiao & Juntakan Taweekun & Kittinan Maliwan & Somchai Sae-ung & Thanansak Theppaya, 2020. "Investigation and Analysis of R463A as an Alternative Refrigerant to R404A with Lower Global Warming Potential," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Tomc, Urban & Nosan, Simon & Vidrih, Boris & Bogić, Simon & Navickaite, Kristina & Vozel, Katja & Bobič, Miha & Kitanovski, Andrej, 2024. "Small demonstrator of a thermoelectric heat-pump booster for an ultra-low-temperature district-heating substation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    10. Jouhara, Hussam & Żabnieńska-Góra, Alina & Delpech, Bertrand & Olabi, Valentina & El Samad, Tala & Sayma, Abdulnaser, 2024. "High-temperature heat pumps: Fundamentals, modelling approaches and applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    11. Mota-Babiloni, Adrián & Mateu-Royo, Carlos & Navarro-Esbrí, Joaquín & Molés, Francisco & Amat-Albuixech, Marta & Barragán-Cervera, Ángel, 2018. "Optimisation of high-temperature heat pump cascades with internal heat exchangers using refrigerants with low global warming potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1248-1258.
    12. Pérez-García, V. & Mota-Babiloni, A. & Navarro-Esbrí, J., 2019. "Influence of operational modes of the internal heat exchanger in an experimental installation using R-450A and R-513A as replacement alternatives for R-134a," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    13. Dai, Baomin & Feng, Yining & Liu, Shengchun & Yao, Xiaole & Zhang, Jianing & Wang, Bowen & Wang, Dabiao, 2023. "Dual pressure condensation heating high temperature heat pump using eco-friendly working fluid mixtures for industrial heating processes: 4E analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    14. Zhao, Zhen & Luo, Jielin & Zou, Dexin & Yang, Kaiyin & Wang, Qin & Chen, Guangming, 2023. "Experimental investigation on the inhibition of flame retardants on the flammability of R1234ze(E)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    15. Liu, Hua & Zhao, Baiyang & Zhang, Zhiping & Li, Hongbo & Hu, Bin & Wang, R.Z., 2020. "Experimental validation of an advanced heat pump system with high-efficiency centrifugal compressor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    16. Dong, Yixiu & Yan, Hongzhi & Wang, Ruzhu, 2024. "Significant thermal upgrade via cascade high temperature heat pump with low GWP working fluids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 190(PA).
    17. Chen, Qi & Yu, Mengqi & Yan, Gang & Yu, Jianlin, 2022. "Thermodynamic analyses of a modified ejector enhanced dual temperature refrigeration cycle for domestic refrigerator/freezer application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    18. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Shen, Jianfu & Wojewodzki, Michal, 2023. "A cross-country analysis of corporate carbon performance: An international investment perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Abas, Naeem & Kalair, Ali Raza & Khan, Nasrullah & Haider, Aun & Saleem, Zahid & Saleem, Muhammad Shoaib, 2018. "Natural and synthetic refrigerants, global warming: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 557-569.
    20. Wang, Yao & Wang, Qianlong & Yu, Jianlin & Qian, Suxin, 2023. "A heat pump dual temperature display cabinet using natural refrigerants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(PB).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:188:y:2023:i:c:s1364032123006639. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.