This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, October 2012.

Copyright 2012 ASHRAE. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This

article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically
or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. For more
information about ASHRAE Journal, visit www.ashrae.org.

Using CO2
To Reduce Photo 1: CO2 unit being air lifted in Hong Kong.

Refrigerant Charge
This article is based on a presentation at the 2012 IIAR Industrial Refrigeration Con- Ammonia is not the only refriger-
ference. The paper received the Andy Ammonia Award for best paper at the conference. ant under legal pressure. There is also
an increasing tendency to prosecute
By S. Forbes Pearson, Ph.D.

A
and fine companies found guilty of
s refrigerant charge increases, more onerous legal requirements are negligently releasing fluorocarbon re-
frigerants to the atmosphere. Recent
being placed on owners and operators of refrigerating systems using problems have occurred in the bakery
industry, which continues to use R-22,
ammonia. In the U.S., facilities containing 500 lb (227 kg) of ammonia or and a West Coast fish processing fac-
tory was prosecuted for continuing
more must be reported to the local emergency planning committee. Facilities releases of R-22. It is obvious that the
possibility of a large leak of any type
containing more than a threshold quantity (TQ) of ammonia, in addition, of refrigerant diminishes as the charge
is reduced.
must submit a risk management plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection
This article shows some ways refrig-
Agency. In California the TQ is only 500 lb (227 kg), but, generally, it is on erant charge may be reduced without
significant penalty in terms of effi-
the order of 10,000 lb (4536 kg). For all ammonia refrigerating systems, ciency.

irrespective of charge, losses of more than 100 lb (45 kg) of ammonia About the Author
must be reported to the National Response Center within 15 minutes of
the person in command of the facility being made aware of the loss.1,2
S. Forbes Pearson, Ph.D., is the president of Star
Refrigeration in Glasgow, U.K., and is past presi-
dent of the Institute of Refrigeration in Carshalton,
Surrey, U.K.

38 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g October 2012

Secondary Refrigerants
Secondary refrigerants have been used since the earliest
days of mechanical refrigeration. Reducing the primary re-
frigerant charge is usually achieved at the cost of reduced
efficiency because of the extra temperature differences re-
quired to transfer heat through the secondary refrigerant.
Secondary refrigerants went out of favor when non-toxic,
non-flammable halo-carbon refrigerants became available.
However, the current threat to halo-carbon refrigerants be-
cause of their effect on the environment has led to a return to
using secondary refrigerants.
Extensive use has been made of various secondary refrig-
erants including glycols and organic salt solutions, but the
author proposed a better method using carbon dioxide in
1993.3 Since that time there has been a return to using car-
bon dioxide both as a volatile secondary refrigerant and as
the low-temperature stage in cascade systems.
Ammonia is often used in the high-temperature stage, but
other refrigerants have also been used.
Carbon dioxide has remarkable properties as a heat trans-
ferring fluid as pointed out by Hans Quack.4 Figure 1 shows
the contrasting effectiveness of carbon dioxide, R-134a and
water when used as secondary refrigerants. Andy Pearson,
modified the Quack Factor to take account of equivalent
pressure drop effects, emphasizing the advantages of car-
bon dioxide.5 Carbon dioxide is significantly better than any
other fluid in this respect.
A large portion of supermarkets in Europe now use car-
bon dioxide as the primary and secondary refrigerant of
choice. The most common arrangement consists of a tran-
scritical system for the high-temperature duties with ad-
ditional carbon dioxide compressors being used to produce
refrigeration at lower temperatures. To avoid difficulties
with lubricants, the two systems are often kept separate
with the low-temperature carbon dioxide refrigerant be-
ing condensed by heat exchange with an evaporator of the
high-pressure system.
When used as a volatile secondary refrigerant, it has been
found that system efficiency is comparable with system ef-
ficiency of direct expansion halocarbon systems. There is
not yet consensus as to the most suitable primary refrigerant.
Systems have been installed using R-290 (propane), R-404A
and R-717 (ammonia). Primary refrigerant charge can be re-
duced by a factor of 50 or more.
Pump power required to circulate carbon dioxide as a
volatile secondary refrigerant is about 5% of the power that
would be required to circulate a non-volatile secondary re-
frigerant such as water or propylene glycol.
Carbon dioxide has also been used to reduce refrigerant
charge in industrial refrigerating systems in the U.S., Japan
and in Europe where the technique was pioneered in 1993
by Nestle for the freeze drying of coffee. Carbon dioxide
October 2012 ASHRAE Journal 39
1,200
1,000
1,100 CO2
900 R-134a
PQF (kg/s3 106)
800 Water
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
14C
20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Temperature (C)
Figure 1: Performance factors.
cascade systems would appear to have become the de facto
standard for this application worldwide.
Carbon dioxide cascade systems have also been used for
low-temperature cold stores and freezing systems. At some
evaporating temperature between 31F and 40F (35C
and 40C), the cascade system becomes more efficient than
a two-stage ammonia system.6 This is because of the rela-
tively poor performance of ammonia as a refrigerant at low
evaporating temperatures.
Risk of ammonia leakage into production areas is also
minimized because the ammonia system is confined to the
open air and to a special machinery room.
Carbon Dioxide in Plate Freezers
Vertical plate freezers are used for the freezing of unwrapped
product. Refrigeration has traditionally been by pumped circu-
lation of refrigerant at very high over-feed ratios or by pumped
circulation of brine of some sort. Carbon dioxide was intro-
duced for plate freezers on fishing vessels to get rid of brines
and conventional refrigerants. It was discovered that, as well
as reducing the primary refrigerant charge, the freezing times
were reduced by up to 50%. This was because using conven-
tional primary refrigerants at high rates of overfeed resulted in
very high-pressure drop through the flexible hose connections.
Pressure drops were also high when circulating carbon
dioxide, but the temperature equivalence of the carbon di-
oxide pressure drop was much smaller than the equivalence
for lower pressure refrigerants. Carbon dioxide also did not
require such high rates of overfeed because its heat transfer
properties are much better. Carbon dioxide should be the re-
frigerant of choice for all plate freezers.
Carbon Dioxide in Batch Air-Blast Freezers
Modernizing of a meat freezing factory in Northern Ire-
land resulted in replacement of some R-22 batch blast freez-
ers with blast freezers operating on carbon dioxide. To the
surprise of the designers, performance of the freezers was
noticeably better than would have been expected even on am-
monia. It was concluded that this was, at least partly, due
to the improved performance of carbon dioxide during the
period of pull down when temperature differences across
the cooler were high. High rates of heat transfer with am-
monia would have resulted in significant pressure drops and
increased evaporating temperatures within the cooler. How-
ever, with carbon dioxide the temperature effect of increased
pressure drop is negligible.
The effect would have been even greater had the product
not been boxed beef, which effectively enters the freezer
wearing its overcoat.
Plate-Type Heat Exchangers
Internal volume of plate-type evaporators is very low, rela-
tive to the surface they provide.
The charge can be reduced considerably by using plate-
type evaporators instead of shell-and-tube evaporators or
flooded coils.
An interesting feature of the conventional plate-type evap-
orator is that the acute angles formed between the plates
where they contact each other can serve to trap seed bubbles,
reducing hysteresis effect before nucleate boiling commenc-
es. Some main-frame computer centers are cooled using a
free-cooling system that operates in natural convection when
outside ambient temperatures are such that there is no need
to run the compressor. The early systems used flooded shell-
and-tube coolers containing tubes that had been specially
coated to promote nucleate boiling at very low temperature
differences. Later systems use plate-type heat exchangers on
ammonia.
Performance is similar to the early systems with the spe-
cially treated tubes. Average COPs for such systems can be
around 15 in temperate climates. Electricity savings are so
high that it is hard to see why consultants should specify any
other type of system for this application. When the refriger-
ant is ammonia, system pressures are lower than they would
be when using R-404A or R-410A.
Packaged Units
Minimum refrigerant charge can be achieved by restricting
the primary refrigerant to a packaged unit with plate-type
heat exchangers serving as condensers and evaporators. This
implies that heat is rejected to a circulating liquid, and that
heat is also extracted from a circulating liquid. Refrigerant
charge would be slightly greater if heat were to be extracted
via a finned air cooler, but the system would be more ef-
ficient than one using a secondary refrigerant to cool the air.
For a variety of reasons, brazed plate-type heat exchanges
are available at very low prices compared to other types of
heat exchanger.
Conventional plate-type evaporators, plate-and-shell evap-
orators and plate-and-shell condensers have also been used
40 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g October 2012
with carbon dioxide. This minimizes the charge of carbon
dioxide and also the charge of the primary refrigerant used
to condense the carbon dioxide.
Ice Rinks Using Carbon Dioxide
The majority of ice rinks operate with low-temperature brine
being pumped beneath the ice pad. This is a simple, but rather
inefficient system. Direct expansion rinks using halocarbon
refrigerants were developed, but it was found that they were
no more efficient than conventional brine-circulated rinks
because of pressure drop within the long tube evaporators.
The day of the direct expansion halocarbon-refrigerated ice
rink has passed because of environmental concerns. However,
some successful ice rinks using pump-circulated ammonia
were constructed. These were more efficient than halocarbon
systems but presented a risk of leakage from the steel pipes
beneath the rink floor.
Several open air rinks of this type in Switzerland were
threatened with closure because of safety concerns. It was
concluded that they could not be satisfactorily converted
to a conventional brine system because the brine system
would not cope with the situation in which some of the rink
surface was in direct sunlight while the rest was shaded
from the sun.
A local Swiss refrigeration contractor, Wettstein, pro-
posed that carbon dioxide should be condensed in heat
exchange with evaporating ammonia and then circulated
through the steel pipe grids beneath the concrete floor. This
was done and the modified system has proved to be en-
tirely satisfactory. Power consumption is no greater than it
was when ammonia was circulated through the pipes and is
much less than it would have been if the system had been
converted to brine. This system has been copied in other
countries with success.
In Sweden a hockey rink using small bore copper piping,
carbon dioxide secondary and an R-404A primary system
has been installed. Advantage has been taken of the very
small temperature drop around the carbon dioxide system
to allow a larger temperature drop through the concrete to
the small copper pipe. The rink has been successful for ice
hockey and for figure skating. The author is not aware of how
it would cope with heavy public skating.
In Finland a large circular track for cross-country skiing
has been constructed using circulation of carbon dioxide in
very long circuits.
In Canada a curling rink using a transcritical carbon diox-
ide system has been installed. For most of the curling sea-
son, the system will operate under subcritical conditions and
should be relatively efficient.
Air Conditioning Using Carbon Dioxide
Air conditioning of large buildings is normally carried out
by circulation of chilled water.
The advantages are simplicity and the ability to use sim-
ple, cheap, packaged chillers.
Photo 2 (left): Air out blade server cabinet. Photo 3 (right): CO2 pipes with connectors.
The disadvantages are relatively low efficiency and the
large quantities of chilled water that have to be circulated
throughout the building. Power required to circulate water
through the building is significant. If carbon dioxide were
used instead of water the piping would be about one-third of
the diameter required for water, and the pump power would
be about 5% of the power required to circulate water, pro-
vided the carbon dioxide were used as a volatile secondary
refrigerant. In practice the high pressure of carbon dioxide
has proved to be an advantage because it results in very small
diameter pipes. Small circular pipes are very strong under
pressure. As a result, although it is necessary to increase the
thickness of copper pipes for use with carbon dioxide, it is
not usually necessary to increase the thickness of stainless
steel pipes beyond what is normally specified for ease of
handling and bending.
It is obviously important to have a reliable jointing system.
Special compression fittings have been used to minimize site
welding, and these have been reliable on stainless steel.
Carbon dioxide detectors have been fitted in all occupied
spaces through which the carbon dioxide system passes. The
author is not aware of any case, so far, where they have been
activated as a consequence of a leak of carbon dioxide. How-
ever, as they are set to function at a concentration that is lower
than the concentration in exhaled air, they are both easy to test
and to set off by other means.
It might be objected that using high pressure carbon di-
oxide would be much more expensive than using water, and
that the technology is untried. However, the technology has
begun to be used for air conditioning of blade servers and for
air conditioning of trading floors. Photo 1, Page 38, shows a
packaged carbon dioxide system being craned to the roof of
a building in Hong Kong. Photo 2 shows carbon dioxide pipe
connections to door-mounted cooling systems of a blade
42 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g October 2012
server cabinet. The installations have proved to be reliable
and cost effective. Capital costs, so far, are much higher than
costs of conventional air-conditioning equipment, but that is
because the carbon dioxide systems are one-off designs and
have not yet benefited from volume production of standard
products.
The main reasons for adoption of pump-circulated car-
bon dioxide as a volatile secondary refrigerant for trading
floors and for blade server cooling included the small size
of piping and the belief that small leaks of carbon diox-
ide would not damage vulnerable electronic equipment.
However, leakage is unacceptable because of the expensive
consequences of equipment downtime. Using small bore
stainless steel piping and specialized compression fittings
(Photo 3) seems to have eliminated leakage during opera-
tion of the systems.
It is probable that cost of supply and installation of small
bore stainless steel piping is significantly lower than cost of
supply and installation of larger mild steel piping systems.
The volume of building that is occupied by piping also has a
value and a cost. It might well be feasible to include an extra
floor in a large multistory building if carbon dioxide were
being circulated, rather than chilled water.
The original impetus for applying carbon dioxide to air
conditioning was its apparent suitability for use in chilled
beams. Chilled beams operate at low temperature differ-
ences because of the need to avoid condensation. Water
flow rates are high because temperature rise is also re-
stricted for the same reason. Use of carbon dioxide at
relatively constant evaporating temperature would have
the dual advantage of increasing evaporating temperature
of the primary refrigerant, which need not be a halocar-
bon, and vastly reducing the power required for circulat-
ing pumps. Unfortunately, it has not, so far, been possible
to persuade anyone to install a chilled beam system using
carbon dioxide.
Using carbon dioxide for air conditioning does not signif-
icantly reduce the charge of primary refrigerant compared
to use of systems that circulate chilled water. However, the
charge is significantly reduced compared to direct expan-
sion systems of the variable refrigerant flow type where the
refrigerant is circulated to the spaces that require air con-
ditioning.
Conclusions
Compelling reasons exist for reducing refrigerant charge
in all refrigerating systems. These include the relationship
between refrigerant charge and possibility of leakage, the
cost of synthetic refrigerants, the possible environmentally
damaging effects of refrigerant leakage and the risk to health
from leakage of toxic refrigerants.
Secondary refrigerating systems can produce signifi-
cant reductions in primary refrigerant charge as is obvi-
ous in the case of supermarkets where conventional direct
expansion system circulate refrigerant throughout a large
building.
Advertisement formerly in this space.
44 A S H R A E J o u r n a l October 2012
Carbon dioxide is the most efficient and effective sec-
ondary refrigerant so far discovered.
Carbon dioxide secondary is already being used for air
conditioning.
Carbon dioxide secondary systems can be more efficient
than direct expansion systems because of the effects of pres-
sure drop around the system.
References
1. EPA. 1990. Clean Air Act. Section 112 (r)(7). U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
2. EPA. 1986. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-
Know Act 40 CFR 355. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
3. Pearson, S.F. 1993. Development of improved secondary re-
frigerants. Proceedings of the Institute of Refrigeration.
4. Quack, H., et al. 2007. The Extraordinary Properties of Carbon
Dioxide as a Secondary Refrigerant. Proceedings International
Congress of Refrigeration.
5. Pearson, A.B. 2007. Possibilities and pitfalls in carbon dioxide
refrigeration. Proceedings of the Institute of Refrigeration.
6. Clodic, D. 2008. Latest HVAC&R development trends in
Europe in response to HFC regulations. 12th International Refrig-
eration and Air Conditioning Conference.
Advertisement formerly in this space.