Refrigerants

A vapor-compression chiller uses a refrigerant internally as its working fluid. Many

refrigerants options are available; when selecting a chiller, the application cooling
temperature requirements and refrigerant's cooling characteristics need to be matched.
Important parameters to consider are the operating temperatures and pressures.

There are several environmental factors that concern refrigerants, and also affect the
future availability for chiller applications. This is a key consideration in intermittent
applications where a large chiller may last for 25 years or more. Ozone depletion
potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant need to be
considered. ODP and GWP data for some of the more common vapor-compression
refrigerants:

Refrigerant ODP GWP

R134a 0 1300
R123 0.012 76
R22 0.05 1700
R290 (propane) 0 3
R401a 0.027 970
R404a 0 3260
R407a 0 ???
R407c 0 1525
R408a 0.016 3020
R409a 0.039 1290
R410a 0 1725
R500 0.7 ???
R502 0.18 5600
R717 (ammonia) 0 0

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of

greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. It is a relative scale which
compares the gas in question to that of the same mass of carbon dioxide (whose GWP is
by convention equal to 1). A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval and the
value of this must be stated whenever a GWP is quoted or else the value is meaningless.

The ozone depletion potential (ODP) of a chemical compound is the relative amount
of degradation to the ozone layer it can cause, with trichlorofluoromethane (R-11 or
CFC-11) being fixed at an ODP of 1.0. Chlorodifluoromethane (R-22), for example, has
an ODP of 0.05. CFC or R11 has the maximum potential amongst chlorocarbons
because of the presence of three chlorine atoms in the molecule.