Mark Kim Densing

BSME-LP 4

Absorption Process
An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source (e.g., solar energy, a
fossil-fueled flame, waste heat from factories, or district heating systems) to provide the energy
needed to drive the cooling process.

Refrigerant-absorbent combinations (the so-called working fluids) are mostly used in the
absorption refrigerating systems and heat pumps. Inorganic and organic groups, are the main
sources of refrigerants and absorbents.

Functions of the Absorption Refrigerator:

Condenser:
Just like in the traditional condenser of the vapor compression cycle, the refrigerant enters the
condenser at high pressure and temperature and gets condensed. The condenser is of water
cooled type.
Expansion
valve or restriction: When the refrigerant passes through the expansion valve, its pressure and
temperature reduces suddenly. This refrigerant (ammonia in this case) then enters the
evaporator.
 Evaporator:
The refrigerant at very low pressure and temperature enters the evaporator and produces the
cooling effect. In the vapor compression cycle this refrigerant is sucked by the compressor, but in
the vapor absorption cycle, this refrigerant flows to the absorber that acts as the suction part of
the refrigeration cycle.
Absorber:
The absorber is a sort of vessel consisting of water that acts as the absorbent, and the previous
absorbed refrigerant. Thus the absorber consists of the weak solution of the refrigerant and
absorbent. When ammonia from the evaporator enters the absorber, it is absorbed by the
absorbent due to which the pressure inside the absorber reduces further leading to more flow of
the refrigerant from the evaporator to the absorber. At high temperature water absorbs lesser
ammonia, hence it is cooled by the external coolant to increase it ammonia absorption capacity.
Pump:
When the absorbent absorbs the refrigerant strong solution of refrigerant-absorbent (ammonia-
water) is formed. This solution is pumped by the pump at high pressure to the generator. Thus
pump increases the pressure of the solution to about 10 bar.
Generator:
The refrigerant-ammonia solution in the generator is heated by the external source of heat. This
is can be steam, hot water or any other suitable source. Due to heating the temperature of the
solution increases. The refrigerant in the solution gets vaporized and it leaves the solution at high
pressure. The high pressure and the high temperature refrigerant then enters the condenser,
where it is cooled by the coolant, and it then enters the expansion valve and then finally into the
evaporator where it produces the cooling effect.

Operating Principles
 Starting from the evaporator the Vapor goes to absorber and is absorbed in water.
 This process of absorbing releases latent heat and the heat of mixing.
 Cooling will be done at the absorber so as to keep the temperature low.
 Low temperature in the absorber increases absorbing capacity. Strong aqua solution comprising of
water and ammonia from absorber is sent to the top of the analyzer with a pump and through an
aqua heat exchanger.
 Aqua Solution falls will be sent to the generator through the analyzer. And the heating in the
generator separates low boiling ammonia from the solution.
 Heating may be done by steam/electric energy/solar energy etc…as the ammonia vapor raises
through the analyzer. Analyzer is an open cooler and is an integral part of the generator. It is a vertical
tower with baffle plates to provide a zigzag path and analyses the vapor and removes any water
associated with ammonia vapor coming from the generator.
 Then dry vapors will be sent to condenser through the rectifier. Rectifier is a closed cooler, In this
ammonia vapors are indirectly cooled by water .Any small traces of water associated are removed by
the rectifier.
 Water which is separated will goes back to the generator and is called DRIP. Only anhydrous
ammonia vapors go to the condenser. Liquid ammonia from the condenser goes to evaporator
through an expansion valve for repeating the cycle.
 Hot weak aqua from the generator comes to absorber through the aqua heat exchanger and an
expansion valve. This weak aqua again absorbs ammonia vapors and the cycle is repeated.
 Aqua heat exchanger heats the strong aqua going to generator and thus reduces the heating
requirements in the generator. This heat exchanger also cools the weak aqua going to the absorber
and thus reduces the cooling requirement in the absorber. Thus it greatly improves the economy of
the system.

Types of Absorption Refrigeration Systems

Solid absorption system
– Heat is applied to the absorber, which will liberate ammonia from its absorbents and will
increase the pressure to the point where the air or water cooled condenser will remove sufficient
heat from the high pressure gaseous ammonia to reduce it to liquid.

Absorption System Chemicals

– Ammonia as the refrigerant and water as the absorbent is the most popular. High temperature
units are now using water as the refrigerant and lithium bromide or lithium chlorides as absorbent.
The pressure in the systems varies between 15 psia in the cooling coil to 1 psia in the condenser.

Typical Liquid Absorbent System

– It seems to posses some very desirable characteristics. Water at ordinary pressures and
temperatures will absorb great quantities of ammonia. Ammonia absorbed in water may be easily
driven from the water by the addition of heat. Also liquid ammonia has high latent heat
vaporizations.

Kerosene Burning Refrigerators

1)Superflex – This was designed to provide cooling by the use of kerosene as the source of
energy. The condenser was immersed in a tank of water mounted on the top of a cabinet on its
left side assembly. The unit had to be kept upright for it to work properly and the kerosene must
be kept at good condition at all times.
2)Trukold system – This fired absorption refrigerator and was intermittent in operation. It made
use of ammonia and water as the absorbent and the kerosene was located under the box and the
heating flue was behind the box. The location planning prevented the receiver from acting as the
cooling coil and the burners are mounted tightly and the water reservoir must always be kept full
to correct depth at all times.
 Continuous Type Absorption system
- The Faraday unit was made during the early 30's. It was not a true continuous system but
operated the generating and freezing portions of the cycle automatically. The continuous
absorption system is one that can simultaneously condense and evaporate the refrigerant.

Advantages:
 The whole system will operated at huge temperature range
 Circulation volume of refrigerant is low which reduces the running cost
 Evaporator size is also small when compared with others
 Coefficient of performance will be very high here
 Load variation does not affect performance
 More will be the capacity i.e.,> 1000 T, 30TR 91% electricity saves.

Disadvantages:
 Efficiency of absorption system will be very low when compared with others
 Time to quotient will be high so as to produce cooling effect
 As it uses kerosene/oil/gas flame it emits bad smell.
 Initial cost will be very high in the case of vapor absorption refrigeration system
 Leakage will also affects the vapor absorption refrigeration system
 Lithium bromide which will be used in VARS will is corrosive in nature which may affect the overall life of
the system

Comparison of Vapor Absorption Refrigeration over Vapor

Compression Refrigeration
Here are of the comparisons and advantages of absorption refrigeration system over vapor compression
refrigeration system:
1) Method of compression of the refrigerant: One of the most important parts of any refrigeration cycle
is the compression of the refrigerant since all the further operations depend on it. In the vapor
compression refrigeration system the compression of the refrigerant is done by compressor which can be
of reciprocating, rotating or centrifugal type. In the vapor absorption refrigeration system, the
compression of the refrigerant is done by absorption of the refrigerant by the absorbent. As the
refrigerant is absorbed, it gets converted from the vapor state to liquid state so its volume reduces.

2) Power consumption devices: In the vapor compression cycle the compressor is the major power
consuming device while in the vapor absorption cycle the pump used for pumping refrigerant-absorbent
solution is the major power consuming device.

3) The amount of power required: The compressor of the vapor compression cycle requires large
quantities of power for its operation and it increases as the size of the refrigeration system increases. In
case of the vapor absorption refrigeration system, the pump requires very small amount of power and it
remains almost the same (or may increase slightly) even for higher capacities of refrigeration. Thus the
power consumed by the vapor absorption refrigeration system is much more than that required by the
vapor compression system.

4) Type of energy required: The vapor absorption system runs mainly on the waste or the extra heat in
the plant. Thus one can utilize the extra steam from the boiler, or generate extra steam for the purpose
and also use the hot available water. Similarly the waste heat from the diesel engine, hot water from the
solar water heater, etc. can also be utilized. In case of the vapor compression refrigeration system, the
compressor can be run by electric power supply only; no other types of energy can be utilized in these
systems.

5) Running cost: The vapor compression refrigeration system can run only on electric power, and they
require large amount of power. These days the electric power has become very expensive, hence the
running cost of the vapor compression refrigeration system is very high. In case of the absorption
refrigeration system only small pump requires electric power and it is quite low. In most of the process
industries, where the absorption refrigeration is used, there is some extra steam available from the boiler,
which can be used for running the system. Thus in absorption refrigeration system no extra power in the
pure electric form is required and the energy that would have otherwise gone wasted is utilized in the
plant. Thus the running cost of the absorption refrigeration system is much lesser than the vapor
compression system.

6) Foundations required and noise: The compressor of the vapor compression

system is operated at very high speeds and it makes lots of vibrations and noise. It also requires very
strong foundation so that it can remain intact under vibrations and high pressures of the refrigerant. In
the absorption refrigeration system there are no major moving parts hence they don’t vibrate, don’t make
noise and also don’t require heavy foundations. The absorption refrigeration systems operate silently.

7) Maintenance: Compressor is the crucial part of the vapor compression cycle, and it has number of
moving parts. It is very important to do the thorough lubrication of the compressor and also keep checking
it regularly for any defects. The compressor also requires changing of the piston, piston rings, cylinder
liner etc. from time-to-time. Thus the vapor compression system requires lots of maintenance. Failure of
compressor can be very expensive at times as the suction and the discharge valve of the compressor are
very expensive. Even the motor of the compressor is very heavy and expensive. The compressor also
requires cooling, for which special pump is required to pump the water from the cooling tower to the
compressor. Since there are number of moving parts of the compressor that move at very fast speed some
or the other failure occurs regularly. In the absorption refrigeration system the only moving part is the
small pump that fails rarely. Thus the maintenance required by the vapor compression system is much
more than that required by the vapor absorption system.

8) Capacity control of the system: In the vapor compression cycle the capacity control of the system is
done from the compressor and in most of the cases stepwise capacity control is obtained. In case of the
absorption refrigeration system it is possible to obtain stepless capacity control and zero capacity when
there is no load on the system. Though these days compressors with stepless capacity control are
available, but they will consume lots of power even if there is zero load on the refrigeration system. In
absorption system, when there is zero load the power consumption is almost zero.

9) Type of refrigerant used and its cost: In ammonia-water absorption refrigeration system, ammonia is
used as the refrigerant, which is easily and cheaply available. In lithium bromide system, water is used as
the refrigerant, which is also available cheaply and easily. In case of the vapor compression refrigeration
system halocarbons are used as the refrigerants, which are very expensive.

10) Leakage of the refrigerant: In the absorption refrigeration system there are no (or very few) leakages
of the refrigerant and the refrigerant itself is very cheap. Thus there are almost zero refrigerant recharging
costs. In case of the vapor compression systems there are lots of leakages of the refrigerant thus regular
recharge of the refrigerant is required which is very expensive.

11) Greenhouse effect: Most of the halocarbon refrigerants used in the compression refrigeration system
produces greenhouse effect. As per the Montreal Protocol, their use has to stop completely by the year
2020. In the absorption refrigeration system no refrigerant produces the greenhouse effect, so their use
won’t be stopped in future.

Disadvantages of Absorption Refrigeration over Vapor Compression

Refrigeration Cycle

1) Initial capital cost: Though the running cost of the absorption refrigeration system is much lesser than
the vapor compression system, its initial capital cost is much higher.

2) Corrosive nature of lithium bromide: In the lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system, lithium
bromide is corrosive in nature, which reduces the overall life of the system. In case of the ammonia
system, ammonia is corrosive to copper. In the vapor compression system copper is used with the
halocarbon refrigerants and they are quite safe thus ensuring long life of the refrigeration system. As such
the vapor compression system with reciprocating or centrifugal compressor has longer life than the
lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system.
3) Low working pressures: The working pressures of the absorption refrigeration cycle are very low. In
case of the lithium bromide system these pressures are so low that even the expansion valve is not
required since the drop in pressure of the refrigerant due to its flow is good enough to produce its
expansion. Due to this the refrigeration system should be sealed thoroughly so that no atmospheric gases
would enter the refrigeration system. As such the system of the compression refrigeration should also be
packed tightly, but this is to prevent the leakage of the refrigerant to the atmosphere.
4) Coefficient of Performance (COP): The coefficient of performance of the absorption refrigeration
systems is very low compared to the vapor compression systems. For instance, the COP of the two stage
lithium bromide system is about 1.1, while that of the vapor compression system used for the air
conditioning applications it is about 4 to 5. Thus the absorption refrigeration system becomes competitive
only if the ratio of the electricity to fuel (oil, gas or coal used to generate the steam in the boiler) becomes
more than four. If this ratio is lesser there are chances that excess fuel would be required to generate the
steam. However, if there is excess steam in the industry, this ratio may not be given importance.

5) Higher heat rejection: In the absorption refrigeration heat has to be rejected from number of parts like
condenser, absorber, analyzer, rectifier etc. thus heat rejection factor for absorption refrigeration system
is high and it can be around 2.5. In the compression refrigeration system the heat is given up only from
the condenser, so it heat rejection factor is small, which is about 1.2. Thus the cooling tower and pump
capacities for pumping the cooling water have to be higher in case of the absorption refrigeration system,
which leads to increase in the running cost of the system.