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Title: A comparative study on the environmental impact of supermarket refrigeration systems using low GWP refrigerants

Abstract

Supermarket refrigeration systems have high environmental impact due to their large refrigerant charge and high leak rates. Consequently, the interest in using low GWP refrigerants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and new refrigerant blends is increasing. In this study, an open-source Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) framework is presented and used to compare the environmental impact of four supermarket refrigeration systems: a transcritical CO2 booster system, a cascade CO2/N-40 system, a combined secondary circuit with central DX N-40/L-40 system, and a baseline multiplex direct expansion system utilizing R-404A and N-40. The study is performed for different climates within the USA using EnergyPlus to simulate the systems' hourly performance. Finally, further analyses are presented such as parametric, sensitivity, and uncertainty analyses to study the impact of different system parameters on the LCCP.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Energy and Transportation Science Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office; Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Integrated Systems Optimization Consortium (ISOC)
Contributing Org.:
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1265576
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1245242
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
International Journal of Refrigeration
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 56; Journal ID: ISSN 0140-7007
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; LCCP; GWP; Alternative refrigerant; Supermarket refrigeration; Environmental impact

Citation Formats

Beshr, M., Aute, V., Sharma, V., Abdelaziz, O., Fricke, B., and Radermacher, R. A comparative study on the environmental impact of supermarket refrigeration systems using low GWP refrigerants. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.03.025.
Beshr, M., Aute, V., Sharma, V., Abdelaziz, O., Fricke, B., & Radermacher, R. A comparative study on the environmental impact of supermarket refrigeration systems using low GWP refrigerants. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.03.025
Beshr, M., Aute, V., Sharma, V., Abdelaziz, O., Fricke, B., and Radermacher, R. 2015. "A comparative study on the environmental impact of supermarket refrigeration systems using low GWP refrigerants". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.03.025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1265576.
@article{osti_1265576,
title = {A comparative study on the environmental impact of supermarket refrigeration systems using low GWP refrigerants},
author = {Beshr, M. and Aute, V. and Sharma, V. and Abdelaziz, O. and Fricke, B. and Radermacher, R.},
abstractNote = {Supermarket refrigeration systems have high environmental impact due to their large refrigerant charge and high leak rates. Consequently, the interest in using low GWP refrigerants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and new refrigerant blends is increasing. In this study, an open-source Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) framework is presented and used to compare the environmental impact of four supermarket refrigeration systems: a transcritical CO2 booster system, a cascade CO2/N-40 system, a combined secondary circuit with central DX N-40/L-40 system, and a baseline multiplex direct expansion system utilizing R-404A and N-40. The study is performed for different climates within the USA using EnergyPlus to simulate the systems' hourly performance. Finally, further analyses are presented such as parametric, sensitivity, and uncertainty analyses to study the impact of different system parameters on the LCCP.},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.03.025},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1265576}, journal = {International Journal of Refrigeration},
issn = {0140-7007},
number = ,
volume = 56,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 51 works
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Works referenced in this record:

GREEN-MAC-LCCP: A Tool for Assessing the Life Cycle Climate Performance of MAC Systems
journal, October 2010


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