Comparative life cycle assessment of commonly used refrigerants in commercial refrigeration systems

Abstract

Background, Aim and Scope In accordance with the Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocols, the refrigeration industry is currently evaluating the environmental performance of using HFCs and the so-called natural refrigerants, such as NH3 or CO2, as a long-term substitute for CFCs and HCFCs. The objective of this study is to quantify and compare the environmental impact throughout the life cycle of commercial refrigeration systems using HCFCs, HFCs and natural refrigerants. The function of the system under study is the refrigeration of a standard European supermarket with an average surface area of 2000 m2, with a cooling duty of 130 kW over a period of 15 years. Different scenarios have been created involving a combination of the most common refrigerants (HCFCs (R-22), HFCs (R-134a, R-404A, R-407A, R-407C, R-410A, R-507A) and natural ones (R-744 and R-717)), with different commercial refrigeration systems (direct expansion, secondary loop and distributed), for medium and low temperature. For each scenario, an environmental evaluation was carried out, using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, to compare the influence of both the refrigerant and refrigeration system on the overall contribution to impact.