Study 4: Technologies (advanced and alternative) for cooling

With a view to achieving competitive, low-carbon industrial development, particular attention has recently been paid to improving industrial air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. Compression-expansion cycles have achieved reasonable performance levels, but are hampered by regulatory changes concerning the working fluids used (GWP – Global Warming Potential, ODP – Ozone Depletion Potential). Consequently, the need to make refrigeration sustainable, competitive and energy-efficient has become a major challenge for the industry. The development of advanced cycles, for example, is highlighted by various industry publications, which regularly report on the performance of compression cycles using ammonia and CO₂ (post-HFC), as well as other machines that appear to be increasingly efficient.

This study presents the state of the art in new refrigeration systems designed to offer improvements over conventional compression-expansion systems.