Achieving More Environmentally Friendly Refrigerants

Outcome/Accomplishment

Researchers at the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Applied Technology Hub (EARTH), headquartered at the University of Kansas, showed that efficient separation methods will be essential for transitioning to more environmentally friendly refrigerants such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) as mandated by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. 

Impact/Benefits

This work represents an advancement in the field, enabling more reliable design and optimization, and eliminating the deviations that arise from using ideal mixing rules to predict mixture properties.

Explanation/Background

Incorporating experimentally measured mixture properties improves the accuracy of rate-based simulation. The measurement and monitoring of thermophysical properties such as mixture density, viscosity, and surface tension are crucial for accurately simulating the separation process in extractive distillation with ionic liquid entrainers. 

Many of the commercial refrigerants sold today are binary or ternary azeotropic hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) mixtures. To separate low-global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerants such as difluoromethane (HFC-32) from high-GWP refrigerants such as pentafluoroethane (HFC-125) that form an azeotrope, novel ionic liquid (IL) entrainers have been developed for use in extractive distillation. Low-GWP refrigerants, such as HFC-32, can be blended with low-GWP refrigerants, such as HFOs, to produce new products. Process simulations show that extractive distillation with IL (EDIL) entrainers is a promising technology for separating azeotropic refrigerant mixtures to produce high purity products that can be blended with HFOs. 

Rate-based simulation for an R-410A separation using extractive distillation with [C2C1m][Tf2N] as an entrainer
Credit:
A. Arishi et al.

Location

Lawrence, KS

e-mail

website

https://erc-earth.ku.edu/

Start Year

Energy and Sustainability

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Energy and Sustainability Icon

Energy and Smart Infrastructure

Lead Institution

The University of Kansas

Core Partners

Lehigh University, University of Hawaii, University of Maryland, University of Notre Dame, University of South Dakota

Fact Sheet

Rate-based simulation for an R-410A separation using extractive distillation with [C2C1m][Tf2N] as an entrainer
Credit:
A. Arishi et al.

Outcome/Accomplishment

Researchers at the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Applied Technology Hub (EARTH), headquartered at the University of Kansas, showed that efficient separation methods will be essential for transitioning to more environmentally friendly refrigerants such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) as mandated by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. 

Location

Lawrence, KS

e-mail

website

https://erc-earth.ku.edu/

Start Year

Energy and Sustainability

Energy and Sustainability Icon
Energy and Sustainability Icon

Energy and Smart Infrastructure

Lead Institution

The University of Kansas

Core Partners

Lehigh University, University of Hawaii, University of Maryland, University of Notre Dame, University of South Dakota

Fact Sheet

Impact/benefits

This work represents an advancement in the field, enabling more reliable design and optimization, and eliminating the deviations that arise from using ideal mixing rules to predict mixture properties.

Explanation/Background

Incorporating experimentally measured mixture properties improves the accuracy of rate-based simulation. The measurement and monitoring of thermophysical properties such as mixture density, viscosity, and surface tension are crucial for accurately simulating the separation process in extractive distillation with ionic liquid entrainers. 

Many of the commercial refrigerants sold today are binary or ternary azeotropic hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) mixtures. To separate low-global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerants such as difluoromethane (HFC-32) from high-GWP refrigerants such as pentafluoroethane (HFC-125) that form an azeotrope, novel ionic liquid (IL) entrainers have been developed for use in extractive distillation. Low-GWP refrigerants, such as HFC-32, can be blended with low-GWP refrigerants, such as HFOs, to produce new products. Process simulations show that extractive distillation with IL (EDIL) entrainers is a promising technology for separating azeotropic refrigerant mixtures to produce high purity products that can be blended with HFOs.