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Energetic and Exergetic Analysis of Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants as Substitutes for R410A in Ground Source Heat Pumps

Author

Listed:
  • Sergio Bobbo

    (Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-35127 Padova, Italy)

  • Laura Fedele

    (Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-35127 Padova, Italy)

  • Marco Curcio

    (Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-35127 Padova, Italy
    Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Padova, I-35131 Padua, Italy)

  • Anna Bet

    (Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-35127 Padova, Italy)

  • Michele De Carli

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Padova, I-35131 Padua, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Emmi

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Padova, I-35131 Padua, Italy)

  • Fabio Poletto

    (Hi-Ref S.p.A., I-35020 Tribano, Italy)

  • Andrea Tarabotti

    (Hi-Ref S.p.A., I-35020 Tribano, Italy)

  • Dimitris Mendrinos

    (Geothermal Energy Department, Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving, 19009 Pikermi, Greece)

  • Giulia Mezzasalma

    (RED Srl. Via le dell’Industria 58B, I-35127 Padova, Italy)

  • Adriana Bernardi

    (Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-35127 Padova, Italy)

Abstract

In the European Union (EU), buildings are responsible for about 40% of the total final energy consumption, and 36% of the European global CO 2 emissions. The European Commission released directives to push for the enhancement of the buildings energy performance and identified, beside the retrofit of the current building stock, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems as the other main way to increase renewable energy sharing and overall building energy efficiency. For this purpose, Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) represent one of the most interesting technologies to provide energy for heating, cooling, and domestic water production in residential applications, ensuring a significant reduction (e.g., up to 44% compared with air-source heat pumps) of energy consumption and the corresponding emissions. At present, GSHPs mainly employ the refrigerant R410A as the working fluid, which has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 2087. However, following the EU Regulation No. 517/2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases, this high GWP refrigerant will have to be substituted for residential applications in the next years. Thus, to increase the sustainability of GSHPs, it is necessary to identify short time alternative fluids with lower GWP, before finding medium-long term solutions characterized by very low GWP. This is one of the tasks of the UE project "Most Easy, Efficient, and Low-Cost Geothermal Systems for Retrofitting Civil and Historical Buildings" (acronym GEO4CIVHIC). Here, a thorough thermodynamic analysis, based on both energy and exergy analysis, will be presented to perform a comparison between different fluids as substitutes for R410A, considered as the benchmark for GSHP applications. These fluids have been selected considering their lower flammability with respect to hydrocarbons (mainly R290), that is one of the main concerns for the companies. A parametric analysis has been performed, for a reversible GSHP cycle, at various heat source and sink conditions, with the aim to identify the fluid giving the best energetic performance and to evaluate the distribution of the irreversibilities along the cycle. Considering all these factors, R454B turned out to be the most suitable fluid to use in a ground source heat pump, working at given conditions. Special attention has been paid to the compression phase and the heat transfer in evaporator and condenser.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio Bobbo & Laura Fedele & Marco Curcio & Anna Bet & Michele De Carli & Giuseppe Emmi & Fabio Poletto & Andrea Tarabotti & Dimitris Mendrinos & Giulia Mezzasalma & Adriana Bernardi, 2019. "Energetic and Exergetic Analysis of Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants as Substitutes for R410A in Ground Source Heat Pumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:18:p:3538-:d:267538
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Volodymyr Voloshchuk & Paride Gullo & Eugene Nikiforovich, 2023. "Advanced Exergy Analysis of Ultra-Low GWP Reversible Heat Pumps for Residential Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Zhe Wang & Fenghui Han & Yulong Ji & Wenhua Li, 2020. "Performance and Exergy Transfer Analysis of Heat Exchangers with Graphene Nanofluids in Seawater Source Marine Heat Pump System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Tian-Tian Li & Yun-Ze Li & Zhuang-Zhuang Zhai & En-Hui Li & Tong Li, 2019. "Energy-Saving Strategies and their Energy Analysis and Exergy Analysis for In Situ Thermal Remediation System of Polluted-Soil," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-28, October.
    4. Cristina Piselli & Jessica Romanelli & Matteo Di Grazia & Augusto Gavagni & Elisa Moretti & Andrea Nicolini & Franco Cotana & Francesco Strangis & Henk J. L. Witte & Anna Laura Pisello, 2020. "An Integrated HBIM Simulation Approach for Energy Retrofit of Historical Buildings Implemented in a Case Study of a Medieval Fortress in Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Laura Fedele & Sergio Bobbo & Davide Menegazzo & Michele De Carli & Laura Carnieletto & Fabio Poletto & Andrea Tarabotti & Dimitris Mendrinos & Giulia Mezzasalma & Adriana Bernardi, 2023. "Energetic Analysis of Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants as Substitutes for R410A and R134a in Ground-Source Heat Pumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Matthew Kuperus Heun & Zeke Marshall & Emmanuel Aramendia & Paul E. Brockway, 2020. "The Energy and Exergy of Light with Application to Societal Exergy Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-24, October.
    7. Davide Menegazzo & Giulia Lombardo & Sergio Bobbo & Michele De Carli & Laura Fedele, 2022. "State of the Art, Perspective and Obstacles of Ground-Source Heat Pump Technology in the European Building Sector: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ground source heat pumps; low GWP refrigerants; energy analysis; R410A; R32; R454B;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

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