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Thermodynamic and Environmental Assessment of Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants for Domestic Cooling

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Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series C Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nearly two billion air-conditioning (AC) units are currently being used for space cooling worldwide. The majority of these ACs use R134a as the working fluid, a greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming potential (GWP) of 1300 kg-CO2-eq. According to the rules set by the world environment safety organizations, the GWP of domestic air-conditioning systems must not exceed 750 kg-CO2-eq. Hence, the R134a must be phased out by 2025, and an alternative refrigerant with similar thermodynamic properties yet low GWP is required. Therefore, the authors have investigated several potential binary/ternary refrigerant blends in this study. Among the studied refrigerants, R445A, R30A, and NPB2 (newly proposed blend: 8% R152a + 92% R1234yf) can reduce 90–99% global warming impact (more than 200 million tonnes of CO2 emission equivalent) caused by the domestic air-conditioning systems every year.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Air-conditioning

AHRI:

Air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration institute

COP:

Coefficient of performance

E :

Energy or power (kW)

GWP:

Global warming potential (100 years integration) (kg-CO2-eq)

h :

Specific enthalpy (kJ kg–1)

l v :

Latent heat of vaporization (kJ kg–1)

ṁ ref :

Mass flow rate of refrigerant (kg s–1)

NPB:

Newly proposed blend

S :

Entropy (kJ kg–1 K–1)

T :

Temperature (°C)

TEWI:

Total equivalent warming impact (kg eq. CO2 h–1)

Q̇ :

Cooling capacity (kW)

VCRS:

Vapor compression refrigeration system

W com :

Work of compression (kJ kg–1)

ρ :

Density of refrigerant (kg m–3)

η :

Efficiency (%)

υ :

Volumetric flow rate (l s–1)

con:

Condenser

com:

Compressor

eva:

Evaporator

isen:

Isentropic

p:

Power

ref:

Refrigerant

sub:

Subcooling

sup:

Superheating

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Funding

The authors did not receive any external funding to conduct this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University, Kasuga-Koen 6-1, Kasuga-Shi, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    Md. Amirul Islam

  2. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj, 8100, Bangladesh

    Md. Amirul Islam

  3. International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-Ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Md. Amirul Islam, Tahmid Hasan Rupam, Shahadat Hosan & Bidyut Baran Saha

  4. Kyushu University Program for Leading Graduate School, Green Asia Education Center, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tahmid Hasan Rupam & Bidyut Baran Saha

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-Ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Shahadat Hosan & Bidyut Baran Saha

Authors
  1. Md. Amirul Islam
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  2. Tahmid Hasan Rupam
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  3. Shahadat Hosan
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  4. Bidyut Baran Saha
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Correspondence to Bidyut Baran Saha.

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Islam, M.A., Rupam, T.H., Hosan, S. et al. Thermodynamic and Environmental Assessment of Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants for Domestic Cooling. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C 104, 377–383 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-023-00927-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-023-00927-y

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