Prediction and performance evaluation of low-GWP refrigerant/organic solvent working pairs in absorption refrigeration system

Deheng Kong, Sai Zhou, Mingjing Fan, Wei Sun, Dechang Wang and Guogeng He

Energy, 2025, vol. 328, issue C

Abstract: Global warming presents a critical environmental challenge, making the search for environmentally friendly refrigerants research focus. In this study, over 60 low-GWP refrigerant/organic solvent working pairs used in absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) are predicted and evaluated. The vapor-liquid phase equilibrium (VLE) of these working pairs is predicted using the UNIFAC-DMD model, while the excess properties such as excess Gibbs free energy (GE), excess enthalpy (HE), and excess entropy (SE) are calculated to evaluate their performance in ARC. The intermolecular interaction forces are analyzed from the perspective of molecular polarity to explain the phenomena observed in the excess properties. The relationship between excess properties and ARC performance, including the coefficient of performance (COP), solution circulating ratio, and mass fraction difference, is investigated. The results show that the GE and HE of almost all working pairs containing low-polarity refrigerant hydrocarbons are greater than 0, while the working pairs containing high-polarity hydrofluoroolefins have more than half GE and HE less than 0, and have smaller SE. Its COP is 2–4 times higher than that of hydrocarbon. Four criteria for evaluating ARC performance of working pairs are summarized. Additionally, the characteristics of sensible heat have additional effects on the basis of the evaluation criteria.

Keywords: Absorption refrigeration; Low-GWP refrigerant/organic solvent working pairs; VLE prediction; Excess properties evaluation; Performance evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225020821
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:energy:v:328:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225020821

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136440

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

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