Energy and environmental comparison of two-stage solutions for commercial refrigeration at low temperature: Fluids and systems

Rodrigo Llopis, Daniel Sánchez, Carlos Sanz-Kock, Ramón Cabello and Enrique Torrella

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 138, issue C, 133-142

Abstract: International agreements will restrict in the near future the use of high-GWP refrigerants in Europe. These restrictions will favour the implantation of refrigeration systems with low-GWP fluids, especially in applications with high leakage rate. To clarify possible solutions that accomplish the forthcoming F-Gas Regulation, we present simplified models of five two-stage vapour compression refrigeration systems and evaluate them with low-GWP refrigerants (HFC, HFO and naturals). We analyse the energy performance over a wide range of evaporating and environment temperatures and present the TEWI analysis under a same scenario, typical of a centralized commercial refrigeration application. We conclude that, for high-GWP refrigerants, direct emissions have greater weight in TEWI than the indirect ones, so future solutions might be based on low-GWP fluids, in some cases with risk of toxicity or flammability. We observe the indirect two-stage systems (cascades) with CO2 as low temperature fluid are promising solutions, especially for warm regions.

Keywords: Cascade; Two-stage; Low GWP; TEWI; Energy efficiency; R152a (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261914011192
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:138:y:2015:i:c:p:133-142

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.10.069

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().