See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/281194222

Performance Investigation of Cascade Refrigeration System Using CO 2 and

Mixtures

Article in International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration · June 2015

DOI: 10.1142/S2010132515500224

CITATIONS READS
6 715

4 authors, including:

Mouna Elakhdar Lakdar Kairouani

University of Tunis El Manar École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis
33 PUBLICATIONS 335 CITATIONS 95 PUBLICATIONS 740 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Energetic analysis of CO2/propane and CO2/propylene cascade refrigeration system View project

heat transfer in micro duct View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Lakdar Kairouani on 29 August 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
Vol. 23, No. 3 (2015) 1550022 (9 pages)
© World Scienti¯c Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S2010132515500224

Performance Investigation of Cascade Refrigeration

System Using CO2 and Mixtures

Nourheine Jemni, Mouna Elakhdar,

Ezzedine Nehdi and Lakdar Kairouani*
University of Tunis ElManar
Unit
e de Recherche Energ
etique & Environnement
Ecole Nationale d'Ing
enieurs de Tunis
BP37 Le Belvedere 1002 Tunis Tunisia
*lakdar _kairouani@yahoo.fr
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

Received 13 March 2015

Accepted 19 June 2015
Published 23 July 2015

This paper presents reports on simulation and comparative analysis of single stage vapor com-
pression refrigeration system and cascade systems using carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons (HCs) and
CO2/HCs mixture. Thermodynamic parameters of °uids are given using the software REFPROP
9.0. To select the most suitable HCs, three criteria have been ¯xed: Tc , Tt and Tb . It is found
that the HCs chosen in low-stage are propane, propylene and ethane and those for the high-stage
are propane, propylene and isobutane. The fraction mixture in the two loops has been varied and
results are compared with single stage and cascade systems using CO2 and R22. The fraction
xCO2 is varied in the two loops. Results are compared for single and cascade systems using CO2
and R22. For the single stage system, we ¯nd for xCO2 ¼ 0.5, an improvement of COP of 14% for
CO2/propane mixture and 36% for the CO2/propylene mixture. It is found that for xCO2 ¼ 0.3,
cascade system using propane/CO2 and propylene/CO2 mixtures presents a COP lower
than that of cascade system using pure CO2. About of 70% of unfriendly °uids like CFCs and
HCFCs can be replaced with CO2, without a®ecting the performance of cascade refrigeration
systems.

Keywords: Cascade refrigeration system; CO2; COP; mixture; refrigerant.

Nomenclature Abbreviations
Q : Heat rate [kW] LS : Low stage
W : Work input [kW] HS : High stage
M : Mass low rate [kg/s] COP : Coe±cient of performance
T : Temperature [
C]
P : Pressure [MPa] Subscripts
h : Speci¯c enthalpy [kJ/kg] 1; 2; 3; . . . ; i : Cycle states
x : Mass fraction e : Evaporator

1550022-1
 N. Jemni et al.
c : Condenser
o,e : Out evaporator
i,e : In evaporator
o,c : Out condenser
comp : Compressor
LS : Low stage
HS : High stage
i : Intermediate
sys : System
t : Triple
b : Boiling
cr : Critical
R : Relative
1. Introduction
Many researches were done to replace CFCs and
HCFCs in one-stage and cascade refrigeration sys-
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
tems. Some researchers are interested in studying
HFC mixtures as substitute. Hwang et al.1 investi-
gated experimentally the relative performance po-
tential of HFCs (R404A and R410A) as compared to
R290 for refrigeration systems representing direct
expansion commercial refrigeration systems with
small charge. They found that R410A has less or
equivalent environmental impact as compared to
R290 when safety, environmental impact, cost and
performance are considered. Wu et al.2 reports a
ternary mixture R152a/R125/R32 with a mass ra-
tion of 48/18/34 as a potential alternative to R22
which was widely used in domestic air conditioner.
They found that both calculation and experimental
results showed that this new mixture could be
regarded as a most likely drop in substitute for R22
in many applications. Chen et al.3 presented a new
refrigeration cycle using binary nonazeotropic re-
frigerant mixture R32/R134a. They obtained a
conventional refrigeration cycle with a performance
close to that obtained with R22 and that the max-
imal COP can be proved in a range of 8–9%. Gang
et al.4 built a two-stage cascade refrigeration testing
apparatus using three R170 (ethane) mixtures as
potential refrigerant substitutes for R508b. They
found that R170 þ R116 mixture showed the high-
est COP which is up to about 10% higher than that
of R508B. Other works were focusing in using nat-
ural °uids such as water, ammonia, carbon dioxide
and hydrocarbons (HCs). Some studied the refrig-
erant propane/isobutane mixture as substitute to
R12. Richardson et al.5 investigated the perfor-
mance of R290/R600a mixture in vapor compres-
sion refrigeration system. They found COP better
1550022-2
than that of system working with R12. Kuijpers
et al.6 analyze theoretically system with mixtures of
R290/R600a (21/79%) and showed that this mix-
ture can be considered as a good substitute to R12.
Hammad et al.7 studied experimentally four blends
of propane, butane and isobutene. They found that
50% propane, 38.3% butane and 11.7% isobutene
gave the best performance. Experimentations of
Jung et al.8 showed that 60% mass fraction of pro-
pane in mixture of propane and isobutene gave
higher COP than R12. Akash et al.9 analyzed re-
frigeration system with blends of propane 30%, n-
butane 55% and isobutene 15% as substitute to R12
and found a COP comparable to R12. Mani et al.10
studied experimentally vapor compression refriger-
ation system with R290/R600a (68/32). They found
a COP higher in the range 3.9–25.1% in the lower
evaporating temperatures and 11.8–17.6% higher in
the higher evaporating temperature than R12. But
they found that the new refrigerant consumed 6.8%
to 17.4% more energy than R12. Mohanraj et al.11
investigated experimentally the hydrocarbon mix-
ture composed of 45.2% of R290 and 54.8% of
R600a. They concluded that this mixture can be
used as an alternative to phase out R134a in do-
mestic refrigerators because it improved the COP by
up to 3.6% and 60 g of it consumes about 11.1%
lesser energy compared to R134a.
Other researchers studied pure carbon dioxide,
nitrogen and blends of carbon dioxide with HFC
and HC. Mortaza Yari12 presented a new two-stage
con¯guration of ejector expansion transcritical re-
frigeration cycle. He found that, compared with
conventional two-stages transcritical CO2 cycle, the
COP and second law e±ciency of the new two-stage
cycle are about 12.5–21% higher than that of con-
ventional two-stage cycle. Sarkar et al.13 analyzed
transcritical N2O cycle and made energetic and
exergetic comparison with CO2 cycle. They found
that N2O cycle exhibits higher cooling COP, lower
compressor pressure ratio and lower discharge
pressure and temperature and higher second law
e±ciency higher, however, it is inferior in term of
volumetric cooling capacity. Nicola et al.14 analyzed
the performance of cascade refrigeration cycle op-
erated with a blend of carbon dioxide and HFC
(R125, R41, R32, R23) as the low-stage and am-
monia as the high-stage. They concluded that R744
blends can be considered as an attractive option for
the low-stage in cascade system operating at 200 K.
Ni et al.15 proposed an environment friendly new

alternative refrigerant to R13 composed of R744/
R290 (71/29, mole fraction). Results showed that
R744/R290 blends can be considered as a good
substitute for R13 when the evaporator tempera-
ture is higher than 201 K. Kim et al.16 developed a
fully instrumented air-conditioning system to eval-
uate the transcritical cycle of CO2 and the sub-
critical cycle of CO2/propane mixture of 75/25 and
60/40 by the charged mass percentage. They found
that the CO2 refrigeration system could operate
without a signi¯cant impact on its COP over a
relatively wider range near the optimum charge
level. Sarkar et al.17 proposed R744/R600 and
R744/R600a blends as working °uids in heat pumps
for medium and high temperature heating applica-
tions. They found that R744/R600a-based heat
pumps exhibit the best performance for higher CO2
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
mass fraction compared to that for R744/R600.
Kim et al.18 presented the cooling performance of
several CO2/propane mixture measured in air con-
ditioning system. They found that the COPs of
CO2/propane mixture of 85/15, 75/25 and 60/40
are enhanced by 8%, 12.8% and 12.5%, respectively.
Based on this work Min Cho et al.19 investigated
the evaporation heat transfer characteristics of
CO2/propane refrigerant mixtures. They found that
using 75/25 CO2/propane mixture for refrigeration
or air conditioning system, reduced operating
pressure is one of the great bene¯ts. Mohanraj
et al.20 reviewed the various experimental and the-
oretical studies carried out around the globe with
environment friendly alternatives such as HCs,
hydro°uorocarbons and their mixtures. They
obtained that HC mixtures and R152a are good
alternative to R12 and R134a in domestic refriger-
ation sector, R290, R1270, R290/R152a, R744 and
HC/HFC mixtures are the best alternatives for R22
in air conditioning and heat pump applications,
R123 is an attractive alternative to R11, R12 and
R22 in chiller applications and that R152a and HC
mixtures are the best refrigerant for automobile air
conditioner. Viewing all those work, we can see that
propane mixture, carbon dioxide and HCs have
attracted a considerable attention. But they present
some problems, which caused the limit of their
usage in the past, like °ammability, toxicity, safety
problem or low energy e±ciency. To overcome this
issue, Wang et al.21 proposed the use of the new
refrigerant in conjunction with a secondary loop
refrigeration system. Several researchers22–28 are
interested in studying cascade systems using CO2
1550022-3
CO2 Refrigeration System
and others pure °uids like ammonia, R134a,
propylene.
This work is interested in the use of carbon di-
oxide. This °uid has some disadvantages such as
high pressure and high triple point which prevents it
from working at lower temperature. To overcome
these disadvantages, we will mix carbon dioxide
with HCs. We will study cascade system and search
the suitable mixtures which allow the highest per-
formance. These systems will be compared to those
working with R22.
2. System Analysis
2.1. Systems description
Refrigerator vapor compression is the most common
method for producing cold. It is based on the con-
densation of a refrigerant after the compression and
the evaporation following an expansion.
We ¯nd single stage, Fig. 1, multistage and cas-
cade vapor-compression refrigeration system. The
last one is more e±cient when we need low cooling
temperature. It allows cooling temperature near
70
C.29
As it is shown in Fig. 2, cascade system is com-
posed of two separate loops, the high-stage and the
low-stage. The two are connected by cascade con-
denser which operates as evaporator in the high-
stage and as condenser in the low-stage.
The performance of cascade system is related to
the intermediary temperature Ti (low-stage con-
densation temperature). When Ti increases, the
compression ratio increases, for the low-stage com-
pressor and decreases for the other. Consequently
COPLS decreases and COPHS increases which allows
a simultaneous degradation and improvement of
Fig. 1. Schema of conventional one-stage subcritical carbon
dioxide refrigeration cycle.
 N. Jemni et al.

Condenser refrigeration cycle. One of the advantages of

zeotropic mixture is the possibility of reduction in
7 6 entropy generation by matching the temperature
Throttling valve glides of refrigerant and heat-transfer °uid in both
Compressor
condenser and evaporator. Consequently, irrevers-
Evapo-condenser ibility will be reduced and system performance will
8 5
be improved.

3 2
Compressor
Throttling valve 2.3. Energetic analysis
Evaporator
4 1 To simplify the thermodynamic study, some
assumptions are considered: the evaporation and the
condensation are isobaric (Ti;e < To;e ). The outlet
Fig. 2. Conventional two-stages refrigeration cycle.
states of condenser, evaporator, separator and cas-
cade condenser are saturated. The heat loss and the
COPSys . This signi¯es the existence of an optimum pressure drops in heat exchangers and in the con-
intermediary temperature.30 Hence, in this study, the necting pipes are negligible. The compression pro-
cycle will be studied in the optimum conditions (Ti ).
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

cess is adiabatic with an isentropic e±ciency of 80%

2.2. Characteristics of °uids used
2.2.1. HCs
HCs are organic compound containing only carbon
atoms (C) and hydrogen (H). They are environment
friendly substitute, nontoxic and noncontributing to
the deterioration of the ozone layer, very e±cient
and can reduce energy consumption in refrigeration
and air conditioning systems, direct replacement for
CFC refrigerants, R12, R22-CFC and HFC 134a in
their existing systems without change parts or oil,
cheaper and cheaper to use and Flammable.
for all cases.32 The expansion process is isenthalpic.
The cascade condenser's pinch temperature, T is
equal to 5
C. To;e ¼ 40
C and To;c ¼ 40
C. The
system is subcritical.
Based on these assumptions, the compressors
consumption powers, the rejected and the absorbed
heat of each component are de¯ned by the following
expressions:
2.3.1. Single stage system
The compressor consumption power, the condensing
and the refrigerating heat are de¯ned by the fol-
lowing expressions:

2.2.2. Carbon dioxide W_ comp ¼ mðh

_ 2  h1 Þ : ð1Þ
It is naturally present everywhere in our environment.
It was used from the late 1800s but with the advent of The refrigerating load is:
the Freon the use of CO2 was interrupted. It is: non- Q_ e ¼ mðh
_ 1  h4 Þ : ð2Þ
toxic, incombustible, complete compatible with nor-
mal lubricants and common machine construction The heat rejected is:
materials, easy available everywhere and Cheap. Q_ c ¼ mðh
_ 2  h3 Þ : ð3Þ
But it has:
The coe±cient of performance is:
. critical point temperature very low: 30.97
C
. critical point pressure very high: 73.77 bars. Q_ e ðh  h4 Þ
COP 1s ¼ ¼ 1 : ð4Þ
_
Wc ðh 2  h1 Þ
2.2.3. Mixtures of CO2 and HCs
The mixtures of carbon dioxide and HCs are good 2.3.2. Cascade system
refrigerants because mixing the two °uids over-
comes negative characteristics of each °uid: the high The compressors consumption powers are:
pressure of CO2 and the °ammability of HCs. These W_ compLS ¼ m_ LS ðh2  h1 Þ ; ð5Þ
mixtures are zeotropic: during change in phase's
state, there is a change in temperature at the W_ compHS ¼ m_ HS ðh6  h5 Þ : ð6Þ

1550022-4
 CO2 Refrigeration System

The heat rejected is:

Q_ c ¼ m_ HS ðh6  h7 Þ : ð7Þ

The refrigerating load is:

Q_ e ¼ m_ LS ðh1  h4 Þ : ð8Þ
The energy balance at the cascade condenser is
written as:
m_ LS ðh2  h3 Þ ¼ m_ HS ðh5  h8 Þ : ð9Þ
In the low-stage the conservation of energy implies:
Fig. 3. The in°uence of xCO2 on the COP for two models.
m_ LS ðh2  h3 Þ ¼ W_ compLS þ Q_ e : ð10Þ
The coe±cients of performance of low-stage and
high-stage are given by those expressions:
Nicola et al. analyzed the performance of cascade
Q_ e ðh  h4 Þ refrigeration cycle operated with blends of CO2/
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

COP LS ¼ ¼ 1 ; ð11Þ
W_ compLS ðh2  h1 Þ ethane in low-stage and ammonia in high-stage. By
m_ ðh  h8 Þ ðh5  h8 Þ comparing results, Fig. 3, we notice a substantial
COP HS ¼ HS 5 ¼ : ð12Þ agreement.
W_ compHS ðh6  h5 Þ
The global COP of the cascade system is:
3.2. Criteria of choice of HCs
Q_ e
COPsys ¼ : ð13Þ
W_ compLS þ W_ compHS Refrigerated system allows low temperature cool-
ing. This temperature is limited by the triple point
By combining (9)–(13), COPsys will be written as: which cannot fall below and by the boiling point of
COP LS COP HS the refrigerants that should be low enough in order
COP sys ¼ : ð14Þ to eliminate the possibility of air and moisture
COP HS þ COP LS þ 1
entering into the system (Tb < Ti;e < To;e ). The
Theoretical models are written by FORTRAN. critical temperature of the refrigerant should
The thermodynamic parameters of °uids are be very high, to work on subcritical conditions
given using the software REFPROP 9.0.31 (To;c < Tt ). So the choice of HC will be based on
these criteria.
Table 1 gives properties of CO2 and selected
3. Results and Discussion HCs.
When mixing the carbon dioxide and HCs all
3.1. Validation and simulation thermodynamic characteristics of the mixture de-
To validate our model, we compare our results with pend on the fraction of carbon dioxide. We will
the results obtained experimentally by Niu et al.15 therefore take the HCs having a boiling point in the
and theoretically by Nicola et al.33 pure state below Ts;e and those having Ts;c < Tc .
The model of Niu et al. is a vapor compression Table 2 gives the list of mixtures we can
cascade refrigeration system. It used R290 as high- use in low-stage and high-stage and the mole
stage's refrigerant and the mixture co2/propane fractions of carbon dioxide that respect the ¯xed
(71/29) as low-stage's refrigerant. Using the same assumptions.
parameters giving by Niu et al., our theoretical
model gives a COP ¼ 1:8 when we ¯x the isentropic
e±ciency of compressor to 0.8. We will thus have a 3.3. Single stage
deviation of 15% of the experimental value. This can Figure 4 shows the variation of the COP of vapor
be explained by the assumptions we have set for our compression single stage system as a function of
theoretical model. carbon dioxide mole fraction. COP is maximal when

1550022-5
 N. Jemni et al.

Table 1. Tcr , Pcr , Tt and Tb of CO2 , R22 and HCs.

Fluids Tc (
C) Pc (bar) Tt (
C) Tb (
C)

CO2 30.97 73.77 56.55 78.4

R22 94.14 49.9 157.42 40.81
Propylene C3H6 91.06 45.55 185.2 47.62
Propane C3H8 96.74 42.51 187.62 42.11
Butane C4H10 151.98 37.96 138.26 0.49
Isobutane C4H10 134.66 36.29 159.42 11.74
Butene C4H8 146.14 40.05 185.35 6.31
Cis-butene C4H8 162.6 42.25 138.85 3.72
Ethane 32.17 48.72 182.78 88.58
Trans-butene C4H8 155.46 40.27 105.55 0.88
Isopentane C5H12 187.2 33.78 160.5 27.83 Fig. 5. Variation of Qe as function of xCO2 .
Pentane C5H12 196.55 33.7 129.68 36.06
Hexane C6H14 234.67 30.34 95.32 68.71
Figure 6 shows the variation of the relative per-
formance of the system using the mixtures CO2/
Table 2. List of °uids used in low-stage propane and CO2/propylene with the system using
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

and high-stage. carbon dioxide. An improvement is noticed when

xCO2 decreases.
Fluids in LS xCO2 Fluids in HS xCO2
For xCO2 ¼ 0.5, the improvement reaches 14% in
Propane 0-1 Propane 0-0,7 the case of mixture CO2/propane and 35.9% for the
Propylene 0-1 Propylene 0-0,8 mixture CO2/propylene. Secondly for xCO2 ¼ 0.7,
Ethane 0-1 Isobutane 0-0,8 we note a degradation of 9% for the ¯rst mixture
and an improvement of 25% for the second.
Viewing these results it is observed that mixing
using both pure HCs. Once propylene is used, the propylene and propane with carbon dioxide increa-
COP is always greater than the COP of the system ses the COP of systems using pure CO2. But it
using pure carbon dioxide, but if propane is used, decreases the COP of systems using pure propylene
the COP decreased over the COP of CO2 when xCO2 and propane. For the fact that CO2 is the natural
reached 0.7. This result is explained in Fig. 5 in refrigerant with the lower environmental impact
which we notice that propylene mixture's Qe is and the lower °ammability, those blends with a
always greater than CO2 single stage one. higher concentration of CO2 are considered partic-
But the COP is lower than the COP of system using ularly interesting for the purpose of this research.
R22 independently of the mixture fraction (xCO2). To ameliorate these results we choose cascade
systems which could decrease compressor work.
These systems have also the advantage of using the
refrigerant that best suits the temperature range
encountered in each stage.

Fig. 4. Variation of the COP of vapor compression single stage Fig. 6. Variation of the relative performance as a function of
system versus xCO2. xCO2 .

1550022-6

Fig. 7. Variation of the COP of single and cascade system.
3.4. Cascade system
In cascade systems, we varied the °uids used in the
low-stage and the high pressure one.
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Figure 7 shows the variation of the COP of a
single stage and cascade cycles using CO2, R22,
mixtures of propylene/CO2 and propane/CO2. An
enhancement in the performance appears when sin-
gle stage cycle replaces a cascade one if pure °uids
are used in the two loops. This improvement is less
than that of cascade cycle using R22. For fraction
xCO2 ¼ 0.3, the cascade system using propane/CO2
and propylene/CO2 mixtures presents a COP lower
than that of cascade system using pure CO2.
Figure 8 presents the variation of COP as a
function of xCO2 in low-stage for xCO2 ¼ 0 in high-
stage when mixture of CO2/propane is used in low-
stage. It seems that the COP decreases until it
reaches a minimum for xCO2 ¼ 0.5 then increases
whatever the °uid used in mixture with carbon di-
oxide in high-stage. This evolution is explained in
Fig. 9. We notice that the cooling capacity decreases
Fig. 8. Variation of COP as function of xCO2 in low-stage and
pure °uids in high-stage.
1550022-7
CO2 Refrigeration System
Fig. 9. Variation of Qe and W as function of xCO2 in low-stage
when using propane in high-stage.
when xCO2 increases and the work increases to a
maximum for xCO2 ¼ 0.5 and then decreases.
Figure 10 presents the variation of COP as a
function of xCO2 in high-stage when we use propane
in low-stage. We notice that when we increase xCO2
in the high pressure stage we ¯nd that the COP
decreases.
This is due to the increase of pressure di®erence in
the compressor, when xCO2 increases, the mixture
pressure tends to the CO2 critical pressure conse-
quently the required work will be higher.
As it is shown in Fig. 6, we can see that when we
mix propylene/propane/isobutane with carbon di-
oxide we found that when xCO2 increases in the low-
stage there will be a remarkable improvement when
xCO2 ¼ 0:2, 0.8 and 0.9 but is still lower than the
COP of system using CO2, propylene, propane and
isobutane as pure °uids.
The highest COP is reached when pure HCs
are used in the two loops, Figs. 7–9. COP ¼ 1:72
is obtained for propane (low-stage)/isobutane
(high-stage) or propylene (low-stage)/isobutane
Fig. 10. Variation of COP as function of xCO2 in high-stage
and pure °uids in low-stage.
 N. Jemni et al.
Fig. 11. Variation of COPmax versus pure °uids in high-stage.
(high-stage). It appears, from Fig. 11, an ameliora-
tion of the COP of system using CO2 when we use
HCs in the high-stage and CO2 in the low-stage. COP
¼ 1:54 is obtained when CO2 is used in low-stage and
isobutane in high-stage. That means an amelioration
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
of the COP equal to 71% for the cascade system using
carbon dioxide in the two loops.
4. Conclusion
Theoretical performance analyses of single stage and
cascade refrigeration systems using mixtures of
CO2/propane and CO2/propylene with di®erent
compositions, and comparative studies with pure
refrigerants have been carried out.
Based on some assumptions, the following con-
clusions have been set up:
X For the single stage system, it is found for
xCO2 ¼ 0:5, an improvement of COP of 14% for
CO2/propane mixture and 36% for the CO2/
propylene mixture. For xCO2 ¼ 0:7, a degrada-
tion of 9% for the ¯rst mixture and an im-
provement of 25% for the second are observed.
X The use of cascade system allows an improve-
ment in performance when pure °uids are used
but it remains lower when R22 is used. It is found
also that for xCO2 ¼ 0:3, cascade system using
propane/CO2 and propylene/CO2 mixtures
presents a COP lower than that of cascade sys-
tem using pure CO2.
X An amelioration of COP for cascade system
using CO2 in the low-stage and HCs used in the
high-stage is observed. It attains 71% when iso-
butene is used in high-stage.
X 70% of unfriendly °uids can be replaced with
CO2, without a®ecting the performance of cas-
cade refrigeration systems.
1550022-8
To enhance these results we can introduce ejectors
in the two-stages.
References
1. Y. Hwang, D. H. Jin and R. Radermarcher, Compari-
son of R-290 and two HFC blends for walk-in refrig-
eration systems, Int. J. Refrig. 30 (2007) 633–641.
2. J. Wu, Y. Chu, J. Hu and Z. Liu, Performance of
mixture refrigerant R152a/R125/R32 in domestic
airconditioner, Int. J. Refrig. 32 (2009) 1049–1057.
3. J. Chen and J. Yu, Performance of a new refrigera-
tion cycle using refrigerant mixture R32/R134a for
residential air-conditioner applications, Energy
Buildings 40 (2008) 2022–2027.
4. M. Gong, Z. Sun, J. Wu, Y. Zhang, C. Meng and Y.
Zhou, Performance of R170 mixtures as refrigerants
for refrigeration at 80
C temperature range, Int. J.
Refrig. 32 (2009) 892–900.
5. R. N. Richardson and J.-S. Butterworth, The per-
formance of propane/isobutene mixtures in a vapor
compression refrigeration system, Int. J. Refrig. 18
(1995) 58–62.
6. L. J. M. Kuijpers, J. A. de Wit and M. J. P. Jansseen,
Possibilities for the replacement of CFC12 in domes-
tic equipment, Int. J. Refrig. 11 (1988) 284–291.
7. M. A. Hammad and M. A. Alsaad, The use of hy-
drocarbon mixture as refrigerants in domestic refrig-
erators, App. Therm. Eng. 19 (1999) 1181–1189.
8. D. Jung, C. Kim, K. Song and B. Park, Testing of
propane/isobutene mixture in domestic refrig-
erators, Int. J. Refrig. 23 (2000) 517–527.
9. B. A. Akash and S. A. Said, Assessment of LPG as a
possible alternative to R12 in domestic refrigerators,
Energ. Convers. Manage. 44 (2003) 381–388.
10. K. Mani and V. Selladurai, Experimental analysis of
a new refrigerant mixture as drop-in replacement for
CFC12 and HFC134a, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 47 (2008)
1490–1495.
11. M. Mohanraj, S. Jayaraj, C. Muraleedharan and P.
Chandrasekar, Experimental investigation of R290/
R600a mixture as an alternative to R134a in a do-
mestic refrigerator, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 48 (2009)
1036–1042.
12. M. Yari, Performance analysis and optimization of a
new two-stage ejector-expansion transcritical CO2
refrigeration cycle, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 48 (2009)
1997–2005.
13. J. Sarkar and S. Bhattacharyya. Thermodynamic
analyses and optimization of transcritical N2O re-
frigeration cycle, Int. J. Refrig. 33 (2010) 33–40.
14. G. Di Nicola, G. Giuliani, F. Polonara and R. Stryjek,
Blends of carbon dioxide and HFCs as working °uids

for the low-temperature circuit in cascade refrigerat-
ing systems, Int. J. Refrig. 28 (2005) 130–140.
15. B. Niu and Y. Zhang, Experimental study of the
refrigeration cycle performance for the R744/R290
mixtures, Int. J. Refrig. 30 (2007) 37–42.
16. J. H. Kim, J. M. Cho, I. H. Lee, J. S. Lee and M. S.
Kim, Circulation concentration of CO2/propane
mixtures and the e®ect of their charge on the cooling
performance in an air-conditioning system, Int. J.
Refrig. 30 (2007) 43–49.
17. J. Sarkar and S. Bhattacharyya, Assessment of
blends of CO2 with butane and isobutene as working
°uids for heat pump applications, Int. J. Therm. Sci.
48 (2009) 1460–1465.
18. J. H. Kim, J. M. Cho and M. S. Kim, Cooling per-
formance of several CO2/propane mixtures and glide
matching with secondary heat transfer °uid, Int. J.
Refrig. 31 (2008) 800–806.
19. J. M. Cho, Y. J. Kim and M. S. Kim, Experimental
by Professor Lakdar Kairouani on 08/05/15. For personal use only.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
studies on the characteristics of evaporative heat
transfer and pressure drop of CO2/propane mixtures
in horizontal vertical smooth and micro-¯n tubes,
Int. J. Refrig. 33 (2010) 170–179.
20. M. Mohanraj, S. Jayaraj and C. Muraleedharan,
Environment friendly alternatives to halogenated
refrigerants — A review, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas
Control 3 (2009) 108–119.
21. K. Wang, M. Eisele, Y. Hwang and R. Radermacher,
Review of secondary loop refrigeration systems, Int.
J. Refrig. 33 (2010) 212–234.
22. M. Ma, J. Yu and X. Wang, Performance evaluation
and optimal con¯guration analysis of a CO2/NH3
cascade refrigeration system with falling ¯lm evap-
orator–condenser, Energ. Convers. Manage. 79
(2014) 224–231.
23. M. Yari and S. M. S. Mahmoudi, Thermodynamic
analysis and optimization of novel ejector-expansion
TRCC (transcritical CO2) cascade refrigeration
cycles (Novel transcritical CO2 cycle), Energy 36
(2011) 6839–6850.
1550022-9
View publication stats
CO2 Refrigeration System
24. V. O. Petrenko, B. J. Huang and V. O. Ierin, Design-
theoretical study of cascade CO2 sub-critical me-
chanical compression/butane ejector cooling cycle,
Int. J. Refrig. 34 (2011) 1649–1656.
25. M. Aminyavari, B. Naja¯, A. Shirazi and F. Rinaldi,
Exergetic, economic and environmental (3E) analy-
ses, and multi-objective optimization of a CO2/NH3
cascade refrigeration system, App. Therm. Eng. 65
(2014) 42–50.
26. D. Aghazadeh Dokandari, A. Setayesh Hagh and S.
M. S. Mahmoudi, Thermodynamic investigation and
optimization of novel ejector-expansion CO2/NH3
cascade refrigeration cycles (novelCO2/NH3 cycle),
Int. J. Refrig. 46 (2014) 26–36.
27. C. Sanz-Kock, R. Llopis, D. Sanchez, R. Cabello and
E. Torrella, Experimental evaluation of a R134a/
CO2 cascade refrigeration plant, App. Therm. Eng.
73 (2014) 41–50.
28. A. M. Dubey, S. Kumar and G. D. Agrawal, Ther-
modynamic analysis of a transcritical CO2/propyl-
ene (R744–R1270) cascade system for cooling and
heating applications, Energ. Convers. Manage. 86
(2014) 774–783.
29. ASHRAE, Handbook of Refrigeration (ASHRAE,
Atlanta, USA, 2002).
30. S. Bhattacharyya, S. Mukhopadhyay, A. Kumar, R.
K. Khurana and J. Sarkar, Optimization of a CO2-
C3H8 cascade system for refrigeration and heating,
Int. J. Refrig. 28 (2005) 1284–1292.
31. REFPROP. 2014, Thermodynamic Properties Re-
frigerant Mixtures, Version 9.0. Nist.
32. O. Brunin, M. Feidt and B. Hivet, Comparison of the
working domains of some compression heat pumps
and a compression–absorption heat pump, Int. J.
Refrig. 20 (1997) 308–318.
33. G. Nicola, F. Polonara, R. Stryjek and A. Arteconi,
Performance of cascade cycles working with blends
of CO2 þ natural refrigerants, Int. J. Refrig. 34
(2011) 1436–1445.