Evaluation of alternative refrigerant-adsorbent pairs for refrigeration cycles

The refrigerant-adsorbent pairs at present preferred for solid-sorption refrigeration cycles are ammonia-carbon, methanol-carbon, ammonia-salts and water-zeolite. Porosity tests have been carried out on a range of alternatives, including R32 and butane, as refrigerants and new monolithic carbon adsorbents. The results of fitting to the Dubinin equation and modelling of cycles based on these pairs are presented. Ammonia is still preferred on efficiency grounds but R32 may have applications where the toxicity and incompatibility of ammonia and copper prevent its use. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.