A Comprehensive Thermodynamic Assessment of Cascade Refrigeration System Utilizing Low GWP Hydrocarbon Refrigerants

Abstract

The thermodynamic performance of a two-stage vapor compression cascade refrigeration system using hydrocarbon refrigerants is studied extensively in this study. The selection of hydrocarbon refrigerants for the cascade refrigeration system is conducted based on the molecular weight, freezing point, vaporization, density, global warming potential and ozone depletion potential. In the lower temperature circuit, Trans-2-butane (T2BUTENE) is utilized while Toluene (toluene), Cyclopentane (CYCLOPEN) and Cis-2-butane (C2BUTENE) are used on the higher temperature circuit. The performance of the system is evaluated considering three major operating temperature such as evaporator temperature, condensation temperature of lower temperature circuit (LTC), and condensation temperature of higher temperature circuit (HTC). Furthermore, comparisons between the presented work and the previous established work are conducted to show the improved performance of cascade refrigeration utilizing the hydrocarbon refrigerants. The results from the simulations suggest that highest COP and exergy efficiency is achieved when Trans-2-butane is employed in lower temperature circuit while Toluene is implemented on the higher temperature circuit. The results also suggest that the highest exergy destruction occurs at the condenser and the lowest can occur either at the lower circuit expansion valve or the evaporator for different refrigerant pairs. In addition, utilizing hydrocarbon refrigerants on cascade refrigeration systems can achieve a minimum 7.21 % higher COP than the recently employed refrigerants in previously established published works.