Sustainable recycling of refrigerants
Analysis of alternatives
J. Moreno (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
I. Karpov (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
A. Ahmed (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
J.M. Foglia (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
H. Wu (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
A. Gadekar (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
PLJ Swinkels (TU Delft - ChemE/Delft Ingenious Design)
R. Gani (PSE for SPEED Company, Charlottenlund, Hongkong University of Science and Technology(Guangzhou), Guangzhou)
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Abstract
The use of refrigerants has been continuously increasing in thermal control systems employed in residential premises, offices, storage, process operations and many more. Widely used refrigerants such as R-410A have become a target for regulations to prohibit their use because of environmental issues. R-410A is a blend of R-32 (Difluoromethane) and R-125 (Pentafluoroethane). Because of high global warming potential (GWP) of R-125, it has become a target for removal from R-410A and reuse. An additional issue is the recovery of the refrigerant from current and decommissioned thermal control units. This paper reports the results of an investigation related to the separation of refrigeration blend compounds, recycle and reuse of the refrigerant mixture compounds and alternative blend compositions, with emphasis on environmental, health and physical hazards as well as optimal refrigeration cycle operation. Two alternatives for feasibility of operating a continuous separation-recycling process are studied.