Improving the energy efficiency of industrial refrigeration systems

Jin Sik Oh, Michael Binns, Sangmin Park, Jin Kuk Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Various retrofit design options are available for improving the energy efficiency and economics of industrial refrigeration systems. This study considers a novel retrofit option using a mixed refrigerant (MR) in refrigeration cycles designed for use with a pure refrigerant (PR). In this way energy savings can be realized by switching refrigerants without requiring extensive and expensive reconfiguration of equipment. Hence, the aim here is to test the common thinking that equipment should always be extensively reconfigured when switching from pure to mixed refrigerants. To determine the most energy-efficient operating conditions for each refrigeration design an optimization framework is utilized linking a process simulator with an external optimization method. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the proposed process modeling and optimization framework can be applied and to illustrate the economic benefits of using the retrofit design options considered here. For the case considered in this paper, savings of shaft power required for the refrigeration cycle can be achieved from 16.3% to 27.2% when the pure refrigerant is replaced with mixed refrigerants and operating conditions are re-optimized.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)826-835
Number of pages10
JournalEnergy
Volume112
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2016

Keywords

  • Design
  • Optimization
  • Process integration
  • Refrigeration
  • Retrofit

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