On the design of environmentally benign refrigerant mixtures : a mathematical programming approach

Abstract Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-based refrigerants (such as CFC12) have found widespread uses in home refrigerators and automotive air conditioners primarily due to their non-toxic, non-flammable nature and their high overall thermodynamic efficiency. However, CFC and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants with intermediate to high ozone depletion potentials (ODPs) will be banned during the next two decades. The outcome of replacing CFCs in the vapor recompression cycle and various other processes is vital to several industries. Feasible solutions appear to include mixtures of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which have the potential for matching thermodynamic properties of current working fluids while meeting several criteria for ozone depletion potential, flammability, toxicity, materials compatibility and cost. In this paper, a proof-of-concept study is made to show that mathematical programming can be used effectively to identify a small set of alternative refrigerant mixtures which then can be evaluated experimentally. In the mathematical programming model, binary variables specify the type and number of single component refrigerants that exist in a mixture and continuous variables specify the mixture properties, in addition to the proportion in which the single component refrigerants are blended to form the mixture. The environmental issue has been addressed partially by incorporating the ODP, a quantitative measure of the ozone depleting capability of a compound, into the mathematical programming framework. The results indicate the viability of the approach.

[1]  K. Kobe.  The properties of gases and liquids , 1959 .

[2]  Ming-Jer Lee,et al.  Thermodynamic property predictions for refrigerant mixtures , 1992 .

[3]  Amyn S. Teja,et al.  A NEW CUBIC EQUATION OF STATE FOR FLUIDS AND FLUID MIXTURES , 1982 .

[4]  H. Kubota,et al.  Thermodynamic properties of 1-chloro-1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethane (R124) , 1988 .

[5]  Joseph F. Pekny,et al.  A parallel branch and bound algorithm for solving large asymmetric traveling salesman problems , 1992, Math. Program..

[6]  Joseph A. Senecal.  Halon replacement: The law and the options , 1992 .

[7]  G. Morrison,et al.  Two refrigerant mixtures and the hard sphere fluid , 1985 .

[8]  H. O. Spauschus.  Emerging HVAC and R issues; Energy, environment and economics , 1991 .

[9]  C. Lea.  Solvent alternatives for the 1990s , 1991 .

[10]  Luke E. K. Achenie,et al.  Designing environmentally safe refrigerants using mathematical programming , 1996 .

[11]  J. M. Steed.  Present uses of chlorofluorocarbons and effects due to environmental regulations , 1989 .

[12]  J. Gallagher,et al.  Measurement and formulation of the thermodynamic properties of refrigerants 134a (1,1,1,2 tetrafluoroethane) and 123 (1,1 dichloro 2,2,2 trifluoroethane) | NIST , 1989 .

[13]  Reinhard Radermacher,et al.  Thermodynamic and heat transfer implications of working fluid mixtures in Rankine cycles , 1989 .

[14]  C. Floudas,et al.  Primal-relaxed dual global optimization approach , 1993 .

[15]  Kevin G Joback,et al.  Designing molecules possessing desired physical property values , 1989 .

[16]  Jonathan S. Nimitz,et al.  Estimating tropospheric lifetimes and ozone-depletion potentials of one- and two-carbon hydrofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons , 1992 .

[17]  M. Mills,et al.  On the evaluation of ozone depletion potentials , 1992 .

[18]  M. Mills,et al.  On the age of stratospheric air and ozone depletion potentials in polar regions , 1992 .

[19]  H. Baehr,et al.  Measurement and correlation of the vapour pressures of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R 134a) and of 1,1-difluoroethane (R 152a) , 1991 .

[20]  I. Grossmann,et al.  A combined penalty function and outer-approximation method for MINLP optimization : applications to distillation column design , 1989 .