PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Synthetic refrigerants used in refrigeration and air-conditioning have a big environmental impact. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which replaced ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), have climate-altering effects but continue to be used because of the persistence of systems which rely on them.
Using CO2 as a refrigerant is the best alternative to HFCs, as it has zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and a global warming potential (GWP) of one - that is thousands of times lower than that of fluorinated gases (F-gases). CO2 is ideal because it is neither toxic nor flammable, but current CO2 refrigeration plants have higher operational costs, lower efficiency and higher energy consumption. Their energy costs and efficiency need drastic improvement in order to accelerate their adoption and return on investment.
LIFE TURBOLAGOR CO2 will demonstrate the technical feasibility, full safety and commercial viability of an innovative solution to improve significantly the energy efficiency of transcritical refrigeration systems which use CO2 as fluid, and to increase cooling using the same main compressor power.
The solution, consisting of a new patented thermodynamic cycle with two heat exchangers, a free piston expander (FPE) and a patented fluid control unit (FCU), guarantees increased energy efficiency and cooling capacity whilst tackling the technological barriers that have so far limited the uptake of CO2 refrigeration systems.
The cooling industry is now responsible for almost 20% of global electricity consumption and is growing every year, in part due to climate change and population growth. According to International Institute of Refrigeration estimates, 7.8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributed to the refrigeration sector (i.e., 4.14 Gt/CO2eq) and 63% of these emissions are caused by the production of energy required to feed refrigeration systems. The growing demand for cooling, and its impact on energy demand, is fast becoming an emergency in the actual energy crisis.
Synthetic refrigerants used in refrigeration and air-conditioning have a big environmental impact. HFCs, which replaced ozone-damaging CFCs, have climate-altering effects. More specifically, F-gases have a GWP up to 23,000 times that of CO2 and have an extremely long lifetime (up to 3,000 years) - hence they must be phased out while searching for alternative climate-friendly refrigerants.
F-gas regulation is driving down the use of F-gas refrigeration systems, thus promoting a move towards more climate-friendly technologies such as CO2 (CO2-R744), ammonia (NH3-R717) and propane (C3H8-R290) refrigeration systems. Propane, however, is highly flammable and is currently used only for low power applications of one to two kW. Ammonia, on the other hand, is very efficient but highly toxic and flammable, and is thus confined to niche applications where the high initial investment costs in safety are offset by its high efficiency. CO2 plants currently rely on complex systems to improve cooling capacity (but at the expense of higher energy consumption, higher plant costs and control complexity), or on simple systems that have rather poor performance. Overall, it is still difficult to achieve compliance with F-Gas regulation whilst reducing ODP and GWP, retaining efficiency and eliminating toxicity and fire risk.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of LIFE TURBOLAGOR CO2 is to demonstrate the technical feasibility, full safety and commercial viability of an innovative solution to significantly improve the energy efficiency of transcritical refrigeration systems which use CO2 as fluid, and to increase cooling power using the same main compressor power. This will allow its application across products which have an electrical power between 10 and 100 kW and an evaporative temperature range from -20°C to +5°C.
The solution, consisting of a new patented thermodynamic cycle with two heat exchangers, an FPE and a patented FCU, guarantees increased energy efficiency and cooling capacity whilst tackling the technological barriers that have so far limited the uptake of CO2 refrigeration systems.
Project specific objectives are to:
- S.O.1 - Design and industrialise the FPE-FCU thermodynamic cycle performing a pre-series production and technical validation.
- S.O.2 - Demonstrate the performance of the new thermodynamic cycle through an extensive field test campaign in original equipment manufacturer (OEM) beta customer refrigerant plants and drive them in real operative conditions.
- S.O.3 - Optimise, approve and certify the system and to plan the industrialisation process and market uptake.
- S.O.4 – Demonstrate the environmental efficiency and cost sustainability of the new product through life cycle analysis (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) analysis.
- S.O.5 – Promote the technology in order to encourage its commercial exploitation and wider replication across Europe.
- S.O.6 – Contribute to the goals of the European F-gas Regulation and reduce GHG emissions from refrigerator and air conditioning systems.
RESULTS
The main expected results from the project are:
- Production and testing of three refrigeration units (10/50/90 kW) for technology validation.
- Product certification in line with applicable EU standards such as the directives for machinery, electromagnetic compatibility and low voltage.
- Improved energy efficiency (+19-23% compared to state of the art technologies) leading to a reduction in energy consumption of about 340 MWh (700 GWh as the target five years after project end).
- Reduction of GHG emissions of almost 100 t/CO2eq (205,000 tCO2eq/year as the target five years after project end.
- Production of one industrialisation plan, one business plan and one marketing plan to foster commercialisation of the developed solution.
- Market introduction after project end with expected sales of 7,700 units within five years
