R-449A, R-744 and R-454C in Commercial Refrigeration: Impact on Efficiency and System Complexity

DOI: 10.18462/iir.compr.2024.0691

Session: Compressors and refrigerants

Accept state: Abstract accepted

Authors

Abstract

The entry into force of the new F-Gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573 on March 11, 2024, is the main driver for reducing the emissions of fluorinated gases. This Regulation includes restrictions of high GWP HFC refrigerants in certain applications and lower availability due to a severe quota reduction in terms of tons of CO2 equivalents. More ambitious requirements for environmental protection and energy consumption also increase the challenge for the entire refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump industry. The choice of refrigerant not only affects costs, complexity and energy efficiency but also requires different system designs.
This presentation is based on a study of a top ranked technical university in Italy and shows a comparison of an existing supermarket store layout. A thermodynamic model has been developed in MATLAB environment considering two different cities representing a mild and a hot European climate profile, comparing the seasonal coefficient of performance (sCOP) and energy usage of three commonly used refrigerants: R-449A, R-454C and R-744. The results show that standard systems using fluorinated refrigerants perform better than a state-of-the-art complex R-744 system including flash gas bypass and parallel compression.
This study highlights the need for a careful assessment of system complexity, efficiency and energy consumption in order to select the most appropriate refrigerant solution based on case-by-case project inputs like store size, climate profile, safety requirements, reliability among others.

Keywords

A2L, HFO, HFC, refrigerants, system complexity, low GWP, R-454C, F-Gases, energy efficiency, commercial refrigeration, R-744, trans-critical CO2