Analysis of alternatives to high GWP refrigerants for eutectic refrigerating systems

The EU Regulation No 517/2014 is going to phase-out R507A and R404A refrigerants because of their high GWP values. Different alternative refrigerants are under consideration, with the research results available for various applications. However, the eutectic refrigerating system operates at specific conditions, which are analysed in the paper. The applicability of the alternative refrigerants in the eutectic systems is analysed, focusing on performance and availability of components. The analysed alternatives are hydrocarbons, CO2 and HFC/HFO mixtures. The hydrocarbons would be a good alternative, but the required system components are not available. The HFC/HFO mixtures are the alternative with the available system components. The drop-in replacement test results with R448A refrigerant demonstrate significant performance degradation. At 25 degrees C ambient temperature the pull-down time increased by 24% and the power consumption increased by 9%. Also, due to the glide and lower evaporation pressure, the retrofitted system cannot reach the required evaporation temperatures. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.