Refrigerants

The heat pump industry currently uses both pure and mixture (blend) refrigerants. Selection of such refrigerants as working fluids for mechanical vapor compression heat pumps depends on their thermodynamic properties and environmental impacts (mainly due to leakages in the atmosphere and greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy use). Refrigerants are classified as: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); Natural refrigerants; and Low-GWP refrigerants. The phenomenon of greenhouse gas emission, due to the usage of energy and leak of refrigerants, contributes to changing the global climate. As pure refrigerants, the heat pump industry uses today pure low-, medium- and high-temperature HCFs, as well as natural fluids. As long-term options for eliminating the influence of synthetic refrigerants on global climate change, natural refrigerants, containing neither chlorine nor fluorine molecules, such as ammonia, hydrocarbons, water, and carbon dioxide, must be more and more used in industrial heat pump systems as environmental-friendly alternatives.