Tank to Grave Management of new Low-GWP Refrigerants (TGM-LGWPRef)

Refrigeration (also heat pump technology) is one the twenty most significant engineering achievements of the 20th century.

Refrigerants today are at the 4th generation, using hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) in blends, as non-flammable and non-toxic low-GWP refrigerants.

Some of these are however non-azeotropic, risking compositional changes upon recharging or leakage, about which still a lot is unknown.

To develop this knowledge, KTH proceeds from a previous project 2019-003370 to this new project, with industrial partners (EcoScandic, Linde gas, Ahlsell, HUURRE and Thermia), bringing novel contributions to the state-of-the-art.

In this project, these new low-GWP refrigerants will be analyzed for compositional changes and potential decomposition during use, via gas chromatography (procured within project 2019-003370) using e.g. samples from real refrigeration installations, and also their end-of-life management for more environmentally-friendly recovery, recycle and safer disposal.