• Refrigeration is a process w/c proves to have a lot of uses and benefits.

It
best known for its use in the air conditioning of buildings & in the treatment,
transportation and preservation of food & beverages, large scale applications
like manufacture of ice and dehydration of gases. Applications in petroleum
industry include lubricating-oil purification, low-temp reactions, & separation of
volatile HC.

• Continuous absorption of heat is usually accomplished by evaporating a liquid

in steady-state flow process. The vapor may be simply compressed & then
condensed. Alternatively, it may be absorbed by a liquid of low volatility,
from w/c it is subsequently evaporated at higher pressure.

• Eq. 9.3 applies only to a refrigerator operating on a Carnot cycle & it gives
the maximum possible value of ω for any refrigerator operating between values
of TH & TC . it shows that refrigeration effect per unit work decreases as temp of
heat absorption TC decreases & as the temp of heat rejection TH increases.

• Shown on the TS diagram of fig. 9.1 are the 4 steps of the vapor-compression
refrigeration cycle. A liquid at constant P (line 1-2) provides a means for heat
absorption. The vapor produced is compressed to a higher P & is then cooled
and condensed w/ rejection of heat at higher temp level. Liquid from the
condenser returns to its original P by an expansion process. This expansion is
accomplished by throttling through partly open valve. Fluid friction resulted to a
pressure drop. Line 4-1 is the throttling process. Line 2-3’ is the path of
isentropic compression. Line 2-3 represents the actual compression process.
(increasing entropy)

• In the example:

(b) Because HFC-134a is the refrigerant, the enthalpies for states 2 & 4 are read
from Table 9.1, the entry at 10-10 = 0 (˚F) indicates that HFC-134a vaporizes in
the evaporator at a P of 21.162 (psia). The entry at 70 + 10 = 80 (˚F) shows that
HFC-134a condenses at 101.37 (psia).

• If compression is isentropic, it means reversible & adiabatic from saturated to

superheated vapor.

CHOICE OF REFRIGERANT

• Normally, coefficient of performance of Carnot refrigerator is independent of

the refrigerant. However, the irreversibility inherent in the vapor-compression
cycle causes the coefficient of performance to depend to some extent on the
refrigerator.

• To prevent air leakage, the vapor pressure of the refrigerant at the

evaporator temp should be greater than the atmospheric pressure. And at the
condenser temp, the vapor P shoul not be unduly high.

• Less than fully halogenated HCFC cause relatively little ozone depletion &
HFC contain no chlorine & cause no ozone depletion.

• In the 2 stage cascade system, the refrigerant are chosen so that at required
temp levels, each cycle operates at reasonable pressure
ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION

• Basically, the idea behind this is to directly use heat as energy source for
refrigeration

• Heat required for the production of work is….

• The value of Qh/Qc is minimum Carnot cycles can’t be achieved in practice.

• The essential difference between this and vapor-compression is in the

different means employed for compression. The section to the right of the
dashed line is same as in vapor-compression, but the section to the left
accomplishes compression by what amounts to a heat engine. The heat
given off in the process is discarded as Ts to the surroundings. This is the lower
temp level of the heat engine.

• The liquid sol’n from the absorber, w/c contain relatively high conc. of
refrigerant passes to a pump w/c raises the pressure of the liquid to that of the
condenser. Heat from the higher temp source at Th is transferred to the
compressed liquid sol’n, raising its temp and evaporating the refrigerant from
the solvent. Vapor passes from the regenerator to the condenser, and solvent,
w/c now contains a relatively low conc. of refrigerant, returns to the absorber by
way of a heat exchanger, w/c serves o conserve energy & adjust stream temp
toward uptimum values. Low P steam is usually the source of heat for the
regenerator.

• Most common refrigerant is water & lithium bromide as absorbent but limited
to refrigeration temp above freezing point of water. An alternative is methanol
as refrigerant and polyglycoethers as absorbent.

LIQUEFACTION PROCESS

• 1st method requires a heat sink at a temp lower than that to w/c the gas is
cooled & is commonly used to precool a gas prior to its liquefaction by the other
two methods.

• Fig. 9.5, the constant P process (1) approaches the two-phase region. (3) the
throttling process does not result to liquefaction unless initial state is at a low
enough temp & high enough pressure. Liquefaction by isentropic expansion
along process (2) occurs from lower pressures than by throttling.

LINDE LIQUEFACTION PROCESS

• After compression, the gas is precooled to ambient temperature. The lower

the temp of the gas entering the throttle valve the greater is the fraction of the
gas that is liquefied.

CLAUDE PROCESS
• Throttle valve is replaced by an expander, w/c is more efficient. Gas at an
intermediate temp is extracted from the heat-exchange system and passed
through an expander from w/c it exhausts as a saturated or slightly superheated
vapor. The remaining gas is further cooled and throttled through a valve to
produce liquefaction. The unliquefied portion w/c is saturated vapor mixes w/ the
expander exhaust and returns for recycle through the heat exchanger system.

• Z is the fraction of the stream entering the heat-exchanger system that is

liquefied & x is the fraction of the stream that is drawn off between the heat
exchangers and passed through the expanders.