Cooling and Multiphase Analysis of Heated Environmentally Friendly R152A (C2H4F2) Fluid Coming from the Production Process According to Nist Indicators

Abstract

Cooling processes are responsible for a significant portion (20%) of global energy consumption and raise environmental concerns such as ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, and high energy use. This study investigates the potential of R152a, a refrigerant with low global warming potential (GWP), as a more sustainable alternative. The performance, safety, and operational efficiency of R152a were evaluated under various conditions. Although R152a offers high performance and low GWP, its flammability necessitates caution, especially in certain mixtures. A 12-pass tube-type heat exchanger model was simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyze the fluid behavior within the exchanger. The pressure, density, dynamic pressure, Prandtl number, total pressure, and temperature distributions for both R152a and H2O (water) were visualized using contour plots. The simulations comprehensively examined the fluid behavior inside and outside the heat exchanger. The results revealed the influence of the temperature on the internal dynamic pressure and density of R152a. Compared with R134a, R152a demonstrated superior performance but a lower coefficient of performance (COP) than R32. Studies also suggest that R152a exhibits lower irreversibility in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems than R245fa. These findings suggest that R152a holds promise for future refrigeration systems, as supported by existing research on its performance and compatibility. One study focused on optimizing the heat exchanger performance by maximizing the heat capacity and minimizing the pressure drop. This study employed a parallel-flow heat exchanger with R152a as the coolant for the hot process water. The temperature changes, pressure drops, and resulting energy efficiency and thermal performance of both fluids were analyzed. The results highlight the distinct energy efficiencies and thermal performance of the employed fluids.

Keywords

• R152a
• heat exchanger
• global warming potential (GWP)
• computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
• pressure drop