SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR

STATIONARY AIR CONDITIONING WORKSHOP

PROCESS APPLICATIONS

AND

SYSTEMS APPROACH TO SELECTING

REFRIGERANTS

Richard Lord 01-30-2017

Overall Building Energy Use

2

Residential21,641

Commercial18,402

Industry31,279

Transport27,108

2014 USA Total Energy Use (Trillions of Btu)

22.0% 16.7%

27.5% 31.8%

• Buildings Use 65% of the nations

electricity

• Account for over 36% of total energy

use

• Buildings generate 66.1% of the

greenhouse gas emissions including

the direct and indirect emissions

from power generation

.

• Industrial buildings accounts for 31.8%

total energy use

• Estimates by Process Cooling Magazine indicate that cooling/refrigeration is

close to 50% of the industrial energy use

• Industrial cooling is currently not regulation by standards like ASHRAE 90.1

except for a few focused categories

What is Process and Industry Cooling

• Many of the industrial process require cooling and environmental conditioning

• The following are some examples;

Beverages and Breweries

Chemicals/Petrochemicals

Cosmetics and Fragrances

Dairy Foods

Electronics

Data Centers

Medical Equipment

Agriculture and Greenhouses

Food Processing

Pharmaceuticals

Power Plants

Plastics

Soaps and Cleaners

Mining

Refrigerated Transport

Aircraft cooling systems

Machine tools (oil cooling)3

Cooling Equipment Used In Process Cooling

• Most of the equipment is custom designed for the

unique applications but sometime standard equipment is

adapted or modified especially if chillers are used

• Most of the known cooling and refrigeration cycles are

used

• The following are some common equipment classes

Chillers (air and water cooled)*

Compressors/Condensers*

Cryogenic Systems*

Ammonia Refrigeration*

Desiccant Systems

Evaporative Cooling

Heat Exchangers and Cooling Towers

Heat Pipes*

Air Cooling and Movement Systems

Heat Pump Systems (recover and heating) *

Secondary Refrigerant Phase Change Systems*

4* May use global warming refrigerants that will phase out

Process Cooling Regulations

Efficiency Typically the focus of Energy Standards is on HVAC products used for

comfort cooling and there has not been much focus on the process energy

use even though it is large energy user

Standards like ASHRAE 90.1 only cover process cooling by exception and

currently are only covering data centers, and some refrigerators and reach-

in products

Process equipment regulations are difficult because of the critical nature of

the process and unique conditions and custom low volume production

Also their use has significant impact on the overall system efficiency and

process efficiency so component style regulations are typically not

appropriate for processes

Refrigerants Refrigerants used in process cooling and heating are regulation by SNAP

Process cooling refrigerants will be regulated by Kigali agreement but it is

not clear that process equipment is really reflected in the phase down

compliance models5

Process Cooling Refrigerant Selection

6

Environmental

(Direct Impact)

Energy

Efficiency

(Indirect Impact)

Safety

Standards

(Enabler)

Montreal Protocol Phase DownSNAP Delisting & Prescriptive Limits?

New 2L Refrigerants

New Safety Standards and Building Codes

New Refrigerants Required

Due to GWP Direct GWP Impact

CO2 Emissions & GWP

(largest driver is efficiency)

New Equipment Efficiencies

Drive Product

Redesign & Upgrade

New

New

Federal National State

Movement within each generation

Montreal Protocol

ODP issue GWP issue

1st generation 2nd generation 3rd generation 4th generation

Short

Atmospheric

Lifetime

Contains

Chlorine

Lower Ozone

Depletion

Lower Global

Warming

R-22, R-123

Short

Atmospheric

Lifetime

No

Chlorine

Zero Ozone

Depletion

Variable Global

Warming

R-134a, R-410A

Long

Atmospheric

Lifetime

Contains

Chlorine

Strong Ozone

Depletion

Strong Global

Warming

R-11, R-12

When selecting new refrigerants efficiency (indirect), GWP (directs) and safety must be considered

Refrigerant Environmental Impact (LCCP)

7

Direct CO2 EmissionsIndirect CO2 Emissions

HVAC Equipment

Materials

Manufacture

Equipment

ManufactureRecycle

Equipment

Refrigerant

Manufacture

Recycle

Refrigerant

Electric

Power

Life Cycle

Refrigerant

Leakage

Service

lossesMfg

losses

Transportation

Losses

Annual

Refrigerant

Leakage

* Major contributor

*

*

Rule

608

Tools like LCCP or TEWI Analysis should be used

Overall Impact Analysis

• When consider a new refrigerant it is very important to consider the overall

environmental impact

• Many of the refrigerant equipment used for processes can have very low leak

rates and the environmental impact can be dominated by indirect emissions

• Some processes are already using low GWP refrigerants like ammonia,

hydrocarbons and CO2

• This could become more important as leak rates are reduced, driven by rules

like the EPA rule 608 as well as high cost of refrigerants and incentives to

reclaim refrigerant

• Often we have seen the focus just on direct GWP which some analysis has

shown that even though the direct goes down with a lower GWP refrigerant the

overall GWP emissions goes up due to the indirect emissions

8

Indirect vs Direct Impact

The following charts show the direct and indirect emissions study for the typical 200

ton air cooled chiller and shows that GWP emissions are dominated by indirect.

9

99.35%

0.65%

R134a AC Chiller - 0.5% Leakage Rate

98.71%

1.29%

R134a AC Chiller - 1.0% Leakage Rate

93.86%

6.14%

R134a AC Chiller - 5.0% Leakage Rate

97.45%

2.55%

R134a AC Chiller - 2.0% Leakage Rate

Chart based on energy analysis used for ASHRAE 90.1 2015 chiller efficiency justification

Overall Annual Impact Analysis

• For the overall US industry volume based on 2015 shipments the following

chart shows the overall yearly total GWP impact for 0.5% to 5% leak rates

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Increase Decrease

R134a 1430 0 0 0 0

Option 1 68,517 62,131 49,359 11,044

Option 2 57,037 50,315 36,871 -3,461

Option 3 22,727 15,599 1,343 -41,427

Option 4 11,305 3,925 -10,834 -55,111

Option 5 15,219 7,838 -6,923 -51,206

Option 6 11,140 3,633 -11,381 -56,421

Option 7 10,311 2,168 -14,118 -62,975

Option 8 10,563 2,009 -15,100 -66,427

Option 9 9,643 930 -16,495 -68,770

Option 10 6,702 -2,453 -20,763 -75,693

Option 11 5,688 -3,497 -21,867 -76,978

Option 12 8,525 -759 -19,327 -75,031

Option 13 5,269 -4,107 -22,859 -79,117

Option 14 13,677 2,374 -20,233 -88,053

Option 15 -33,025 -45,490 -70,420 -145,208

Option 16 16,910 4,335 -20,815 -96,266

Option 17 18,704 6,096 -19,120 -94,769

Option 18 -21,797 -34,496 -59,894 -136,087

Option 19 -43,199 -55,919 -81,359 -157,678

Option 20 -16,605 -29,329 -54,775 -131,114

Option 21 2,094 -10,635 -36,093 -112,468

US Total Emissions Change/yr (Tonnes)

0.50% 1.0% 2.0% 5.0%

500-750

150-500

<150

Refrigerant GWP

Results based on TEWI Analysis using ASHRAE 90.1 energy model and assumed leak rates

Most of the options that

are being considered for

compliance with the

EPA Rule 21 actual

result in increased total

GWP impact

Energy Efficiency

• Energy efficiency is extremely important factor in the future environmental

policy and selection of refrigerants to reduce global warming emissions

• Process cooling efficiency is much more difficult to regulate as the efficiency is

not accurately reflected by the efficiency of an equipment component at full load

like we typically do for HVAC using metrics like EER

• We believe that higher level metrics that factor in the following should be

considered;

Complete system including pumps, towers, and fans

Annualized performance factoring at least a representative load profile

Regional Climate data like defined by ASHRAE 169 with the 19 climate

zones

Building characteristic, occupancy or process cycle characteristics

Use of hybrid systems, heat pumps, heat reclaim and free cooling cycles

• One of the difficult challenges is to define what is the baseline metric as each

process is likely going to be different11

Example Building/Process Load Profile

12Hospitals often have significant simultaneous cooling and heating

Example Supermarket System Approach

13

Refrigeration Rack

Air Cooled Condenser

Refrigerated Display Case Plug-in Display Case

Space Conditioning Unit

Machine Room

Supermarket Store

Option 1

Option 2Option 3

The following is an example of a Supermarket system level approach

Possible New Systems Metrics

• System Definition - A combination of

equipment, operations, controls,

accessories, and means of

interconnection that uses energy to

perform a specific function”

• The intent of a mechanical systems

approach will be to move up the

scale where we believe more energy

savings can be obtained

• But conventional tools and ratings

metrics will need to be revised to

allow for this approach

• It also will likely require the use of

regional requirements

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Energy Savings &

Innovation Potential

Level 1 - Component

Full Load National Metric (EER, COP,)

Level 4 - Regional Annualized

Metrics (PUE)

Level 2 – Combined Full load

Metrics (Guideline V)

Level 3 National Annualized and part

load Metrics (IPLV, IEER)

Level 5 - Regional Combined

Subsystem Annual Metrics

Level 6 - Regional Complete System

HVAC Metrics (SEM)

Level 7 - Complete building system

metrics (BEQ, EUI)

Level 8 - Building complex

Metrics

Incr

ease

d P

ote

nti

al

Current

US Approach

Some

industry

use

Com

ponen

t

Appro

ach

Subsy

stem

Appro

ach

Syst

ems

Appro

ach

It also should be noted that a systems approach

should also includes commissioning, monitoring,

reporting and maintenance

Summary

• AHRI is current evaluating a proof of concept approach for the supermarket

refrigeration system and also for a chilled water system

• Conceptual approaches are also be evaluated using standardized load profiles

and benchmark cities across all 19 ASHRAE 169 climate zones

• Key Enablers to this will be;

Development of full performance maps for equipment (ASHRAE 205)

Development of standardized climate data (ASHRAE 169/ASHRAE 90.1)

Development of new tools to allow for easy simulation on an annualized

basis for the complete system (AHRI/ASHRAE 90.1)

• Initial work is for HVAC comfort conditioning, but can be expanded for process

cooling and should likely will be a future goal

• The data center industry has already implemented a system metric with the

PUE metric and it is helping them enable the use of new concepts like higher

space temperatures and free cooling cycles.15

Questions

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