Absorption refrigeration cycles with ammonia-ionic liquid working pairs studied by molecular simulation

Journal article (2018)

Authors

T. Becker Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
M. Wang Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
S.H. Jamali Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
M. Ramdin Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
D. Dubbeldam Universiteit van Amsterdam, Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
C.A. Infante Ferreira Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
T.J.H. Vlugt Engineering Thermodynamics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Engineering Thermodynamics (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 T. Becker, M. Wang, Abhishek Kabra, S.H. Jamali, M. Ramdin, D. Dubbeldam, C.A. Infante Ferreira, T.J.H. Vlugt
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.8b00442
More Info
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Process and Energy

Research Group

Engineering Thermodynamics

Abstract

For absorption refrigeration, it has been shown that ionic liquids have the potential to replace conventional working pairs. Due to the huge number of possibilities, conducting lab experiments to find the optimal ionic liquid is infeasible. Here, we provide a proof-of-principle study of an alternative computational approach. The required thermodynamic properties, i.e., solubility, heat capacity, and heat of absorption, are determined via molecular simulations. These properties are used in a model of the absorption refrigeration cycle to estimate the circulation ratio and the coefficient of performance. We selected two ionic liquids as absorbents: [emim][Tf2N], and [emim][SCN]. As refrigerant NH3 was chosen due to its favorable operating range. The results are compared to the traditional approach in which parameters of a thermodynamic model are fitted to reproduce experimental data. The work shows that simulations can be used to predict the required thermodynamic properties to estimate the performance of absorption refrigeration cycles. However, high-quality force fields are required to accurately predict the cycle performance.