Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22362246 www.elsevier.

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Ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems with ooded evaporators

Jose Fernandez-Seara *, Jaime Sieres
Area de Maquinas y Motores Termicos, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Universidad de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende No. 9, 36310 Vigo, Spain Received 19 December 2005; accepted 17 March 2006 Available online 12 May 2006

Abstract The harmful eects of water accumulation in the evaporator in ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems (AARS) with ooded evaporators are a crucial issue. In this paper, the eects of the ammonia purication and the liquid entrainment and blow-down from the evaporator in AARS are analyzed. A mathematical model based on a single stage system with complete condensation has been developed. The ammonia purication is evaluated by means of the Murphree eciencies of the stripping and rectifying sections of the distillation column. The entrainment and blow-down are taking into account considering the corresponding ow rates as a fraction of the dry vapour at the evaporator outlet. The inuence of the distillation column components eciency on the attainable distillate concentration and the eects of the distillate concentration and the liquid entrainment and blow-down on the system operating conditions and performance are analyzed and quantied. If no liquid entrainment or blow-down is considered, very high eciencies in the distillation column are required. Small values of liquid entrainment or blow-down fractions increase signicantly the operating range of the absorption system. If high values of the blow-down fraction are required, then a heat exchanger should be added to the system in order to recover the refrigeration capacity of the blow-down by additional subcooling of the liquid from the condenser. For a xed value of the distillation column eciency, an optimum value of the liquid blow-down fraction exists. Moreover, an optimum combination of generation temperature, reux ratio and blow-down fraction can be found, which should be considered in designing and controlling an AARS. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Absorption refrigeration; Ammoniawater; Distillation column; Flooded evaporator

1. Introduction Ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems (AARS) are the oldest refrigeration technology that, after suering a decline at the middle of the past century, is experiencing a renewed interest for the last three decades. This renewed interest increases simultaneously with the awareness of the environmental and energy scenario that we have to confront at present and in the near future. The main advantage of these systems lies in the possibility of being powered directly by thermal energy at moderate tempera*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 986 812605; fax: +34 986 811995. E-mail address: jseara@uvigo.es (J. Fernandez-Seara).

ture levels. Therefore, AARS constitute an energy ecient alternative to convert waste or cheap heat into useful refrigeration. Moreover, they use natural substances as ammonia and water and are low maintenance and long life devices compatible with any sustainable development programs. Thus, they can be an alternative to compression systems in the range of refrigeration applications when an appropriate heat source is at disposal to power them. Furthermore, the concept of integrated energy systems is becoming a key tool to energy conservation and optimization. In the last decades, cogeneration plants are widely used in the food and chemical industries [1]. The combination of an AARS with a cogeneration system allows the recovery of the surplus of heat for the production of cooling. The

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Nomenclature COP EFF fbd fe h _ m p _ Q r T x coecient of performance eciency liquid blow-down fraction liquid entrainment fraction specic enthalpy (kJ/kg) mass ow (kg/h) pressure (bar) heat power (kW) internal reux ratio temperature (C) ammonia mass concentration (kg/kg) Subscripts A absorber C condenser E evaporator G generator l liquid lv liquidvapour p pump R refrigerant rect rectifying section sat saturated ss strong solution strip stripping section v vapour ws weak solution

Greek letters n vapour quality (kg/kg) q density (kg/m3)

incorporation of an AARS into a cogeneration plant has been called trigeneration, since the complete system produces simultaneously electricity, heat and cold. Therefore, AARS are a signicant component of integrated energy conversion systems. On the other hand, the use of non-conventional and renewable energy sources is expected to rise substantially in the future. AARS constitute an important alternative to make use of these energy resources that usually provide thermal energy at low temperature levels, such as solar and geothermal energy or biomass. On this background, it is seen that AARS are linked to energy technologies with an increasing demand in the future. Therefore, the renewed interest in these systems at present is justied since it constitutes an alternative to consider within the refrigeration eld in the next decades. However, from the research perspective, these systems still remain as an active eld and cannot be considered as a completely developed technology. At present, more eort is required to improve their performance and reliability in order to full satisfactorily the increasing demand and to promote and extend their use in industrial and commercial applications. The classical NH3H2O mixture is the only working pair currently used for refrigeration purposes in absorption systems, and despite of the new mixtures under investigation, this mixture is the only one that prevails with a clear future [2]. One of the key properties of the NH3H2O mixture to take into account is that the vapour pressure of water is not negligible compared to the vapour pressure of ammonia in the generation process. As a result, the vapour produced in the generator always contains a small fraction of water. This water content, even in very small quantities (within the order of ppm), is the source of the most common problems encountered in the operation of ammoniawater absorption systems and it is responsible for the actual performance of real systems in most of the industrial and experimental machines being usually under the values expected

theoretically. The removal of this residual water from the generated vapour is therefore a crucial issue in order to guarantee a reliable and ecient operation of these systems [3]. Apart from the eciency of the ammonia purication process, the accumulation of water in the AARS evaporators depends strongly on the type of the evaporator used. If the evaporator is of dry type and thermostatically controlled, the refrigerant evaporation will not be usually completed, but the remaining liquid will be dragged by the vapour ow to the absorber through the liquidvapour heat exchanger. Therefore, the accumulation of water is not a critical issue since an ecient mechanism exists that should be conveniently applied to draw o the remaining liquid from the evaporator. Moreover, the dragged liquid usually evaporates completely in the heat exchanger and its refrigerant eect is recovered to subcool the liquid solution from the condenser. However, in AARS the evaporator is generally of the ooded type. The process stream to be refrigerated ows through a tube bundle immersed in a pool of boiling refrigerant. Liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator controlled by an expansion valve actuated by a liquid level in the evaporator. Thus, the extra volume of the evaporator permits separation within the vapour of liquid droplets reducing liquid entrainment to a minimum. In ooded type evaporators, the detrimental eects of the presence of water in the refrigeration solution are worsen. The reason is that the vapour produced is mainly pure ammonia and water accumulation occurs in the liquid retained in the evaporator since there is not any mechanism to remove this liquid except by entrainment, which is not enough and is an uncontrollable variable. Therefore, in ooded evaporators a blow-down system should be used to purge the trapped liquid from the evaporator to the absorber. The eects of the liquid entrainment and the blow-down ow rate must be taken into account in the analysis of the behaviour and performance of AARS with ooded evaporators.

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Therefore, in AARS an eective purication process to reduce the water content of the vapour leaving the generator is required. This need is even more important if a ooded type evaporator is used, as pointed out before. This purication process can be achieved by using a rectier or a distillation column, as stated by Herold et al. [4]. The design of an ecient device to carry out this purication process has become a crucial issue in designing AARS. Different mathematical models have been proposed in the literature to analyse the purication process in a rectier [5,6] or in a distillation column [7,8]. Recently, Sieres and Fernandez-Seara [9] presented an analysis of a distillation column with partial condensation where the real dimensions of the column components were considered. The harmful eects of the water content in the refrigerant solution are reported in the general literature [4,10], however they are not quantied. Moreover, there appears to be few attempts to discuss comprehensively its eects in the system COP and the inuence of its possible solutions. Bogart [10] analysed the eect of the water content in a ooded type evaporator. Fernandez-Seara et al. [11] analysed the inuence of the reux ratio and the performance requirements of the stripping and rectifying sections and an integrated and water cooled rectiers on the system performance for a given ammonia concentration. Fernandez-Seara and Sieres [12] studied the impact of the ammonia purication process on the absorption system performance with a dry evaporator, based on the column eciencies and reux ratio for dierent evaporation and absorption/condensation temperatures. It is the purpose of this paper to analyse the eects of the ammonia purication and the liquid entrainment and blow-down ow rate from the evaporator in AARS with ooded evaporators. The study starts with a general qualitative analysis of the inuence of the presence of water in the refrigerant solution on AARS with dry and ooded type evaporators. In order to quantify these eects a mathematical model that takes into account the eciency of the distillation column and the parameters of liquid entrainment and blow-down ow rate is developed. This model is used to analyze the inuence of the distillation column components eciency on the attainable distillate concentration, and on the other hand, to identify and quantify the eects of the distillate concentration on the system operating conditions and performance. Furthermore, the eects of the liquid entrainment and blow-down ow rate from the evaporator on the system operating conditions and performance are also analysed and optimized. 2. Eects of water content in the refrigerant solution In order to understand the needs of the ammonia purication process and the eects of the water content in the refrigerant solution, it is interesting to analyse the mixture properties at the typical operating conditions found in the evaporator of an ammoniawater absorption refrigeration system.

Fig. 1. Temperature glide in the evaporator as a function of the refrigerant water content for dierent values of the liquid saturation temperature.

Fig. 1 shows the temperature glide (dierence between liquid and vapour saturation temperatures) in an evaporator as a function of the water content for dierent values of the liquid saturation temperature at the evaporator entrance. The liquid saturation temperature indicates the temperature where refrigerant evaporation starts. This temperature is usually considered as the evaporation temperature. It is clear from Fig. 1 that for any value of the evaporation temperature, the glide in the evaporator increases signicantly with the water content in the refrigerant solution. As an example, consider a solution with a water content of 1000 ppm, which means an ammonia concentration of 99.9%; the glide in the evaporator varies from 21.2 to 28.5 depending on the liquid saturation temperature considered. Thus, unless the refrigerant solution is nearly pure ammonia, it will be dicult to accomplish the complete evaporation of the refrigerant in the evaporator. The eect of the water content of the refrigerant solution in the absorption system performance is greatly inuenced by the evaporator design. Two extreme cases can be considered. On the one hand, an ideal dry type evaporator where the refrigerant mass ow is controlled thermostatically and water accumulation does not occur, which means that the ammonia concentration throughout the evaporator is constant. On the other hand, a ooded type evaporator where the bulk refrigerant liquid is at the evaporation temperature and in equilibrium with the saturated vapour at the outlet. In this type of evaporator, an important accumulation of water will occur since the vapour produced is mainly pure ammonia. Fig. 2 shows the percentage of the evaporator refrigeration eect as the evaporation process takes place for dierent values of the refrigerant concentration. This gure applies for an ideal dry type evaporator and considering saturated liquid at 30 C at the evaporator inlet and a temperature variation imposed thermostatically of 10 C. It can be seen that for ammonia concentrations higher that 99%, 90% of the heat exchanged takes place within temperature variations lower than 2 C; whereas for concentrations higher

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Fig. 2. Refrigeration eect (%) as a function of the temperature in the evaporator for dierent values of the refrigerant concentration.

than 99.9% the temperature variation is lower than 0.5 C for 90% of the heat exchanged. Therefore, taken into account that in AARS high ammonia concentrations are required, it can be considered that the evaporation temperature is approximately equal to the refrigerant temperature at the evaporator inlet, as mentioned before. Fig. 3 shows the operating cycle for an absorption system with a ooded type evaporator. The cycle drawn in bold line represents a situation where the refrigerant solution is pure in ammonia. If the ammonia concentration decreases, then the evaporation/absorption pressure diminishes for a constant evaporation temperature, which is set by the process demand. Consequently, the strong solution concentration decreases for a constant cooling medium temperature in the absorber. Similarly, the condensation/ generation pressure decreases for a constant cooling medium temperature in the condenser. Finally, the condensation pressure and the generation temperature imposed by the heat source determine the weak solution concentration.

The new cycle is drawn in dashed lines in the PTX diagram of Fig. 3. This gure shows that the saturation temperature at the evaporator inlet is dierent from the saturation temperature of the liquid accumulated in the evaporator (with concentration xE,l in Fig. 3), which is considered as the evaporation temperature. If the water accumulation in the evaporator increases, then the evaporation pressure and the refrigerant temperature at the inlet will decrease. Furthermore, if water accumulation is very high, then the reduction of the evaporation pressure can be so important that the operation of the system may not be possible. Therefore, it is concluded that the water concentration in the refrigerant solution is a key parameter that determines the operating conditions and consequently the performance of an ammoniawater absorption refrigeration system. Moreover, its inuence is especially important in systems with ooded evaporators. Taken into account the crucial consequences of the water accumulation in ooded evaporators cited above, it is very important to know in detail the eects of the mechanisms that contribute to withdraw water from the evaporator. In absorption refrigeration systems, two mechanisms can be used to reduce the accumulation of water in ooded evaporators. The rst one is the carry over of liquid by means of the vapour leaving the evaporator, which is known as entrainment. The second one is the blow-down of liquid by means of using a purge system. The entrainment in AARS is benecial since it contributes to mitigate the water accumulation in the evaporators. Moreover, the refrigeration eect lost in the evaporator due to the entrainment is usually recovered in the liquidvapour heat exchanger where it evaporates. However, the entrainment is an uncontrollable variable, which depends on the design and operating conditions of the AARS and cannot be used to control the quantity of water in the refrigerant liquid in the evaporator. Therefore, a purge system is required to keep the water content in the boiling liquid at

Fig. 3. Eect of the refrigerant concentration on the absorption cycle with water accumulation in the evaporator.

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the desired level. The blow-down rate is calculated to maintain the desired water content in the refrigerant liquid and can be adjusted taking into account the operation of the unit by means of the control system. The refrigeration capacity of the blow-down can be recovered by installing a new heat exchanger where the liquid refrigerant from the condenser subcools and the blow-down evaporates. In Ref. [12] a detailed analysis can be found for an ammoniawater absorption system with a dry-type evaporator. Thus, in the next sections only ooded type evaporators will be considered. Special attention is taken to quantify the eects of the vapour purication in the distillation column and the entrainment and blow-down from the evaporator on the operation and performance of the AARS. 3. System description The system considered to carry out the analysis is a single stage ammoniawater system with complete condensation and a ooded evaporator with a purge system. The system is depicted schematically in Fig. 4. The major components are the absorber, generator, distillation column, condenser, ooded evaporator, solution heat exchanger, liquidvapour heat exchanger, pump and refrigerant and weak solution expansion devices. The distillation column is analyzed in detail taking into account separately an adiabatic rectifying section over the column feed point and an adiabatic stripping section below the column feed point. The ooded evaporator is also analysed in detailed, considering that a portion of liquid is removed by entrainment (fe) and other portion is the blow-down rate (fbd) removed by the purge system.

4. Mathematical model A lumped steady state model has been developed in order to determine the distillate vapour concentration and its eect on the system performance with dierent column congurations and dierent operating conditions. The model also considers separately the rates of liquid removed from the evaporator by entrainment and blow-down and allows the evaluation of the eects of changing both liquid ow rates on the operation and performance of the AARS. The mathematical model is based on the application of global mass, species and energy balances. In formulating the model the following assumptions have been made: heat losses to the environment are negligible, pressure drops are not considered, the condensed liquid from the condenser and the weak solution leaving the generator are saturated, the liquid and the vapour currents inside the distillation column are saturated, the temperature of the liquid in the evaporator is equal to the evaporation temperature and equal to the vapour temperature at the outlet. The irreversibilities in the absorber, solution and liquidvapour heat exchangers and in the solution pump are dened by means of their eciencies. The separation attained in the stripping and rectifying sections are described by means of Murphree eciencies [13]. State equations used for the ammoniawater equilibrium and thermodynamic properties have been calculated from Ziegler and Trepp [14]. The equations applied to the evaporator and to the rectifying and stripping sections of the column are detailed below. The remainder model equations are reported in Appendix A and are also described in detail in Ref. [15]. In the evaporator, it is considered that some liquid can be carried out from the evaporator with the vapour current (entrainment) and that some liquid can be purged to the absorber (blow-down). The entrainment (fe) and blowdown (fbd) rates are expressed as a weight fraction of the _ _ dry vapour at the evaporator outlet m4;v . Then, fe m4;v is _ the entrainment ow and fbd m4;v is the blow-down ow. Therefore, the total mass ow at the evaporator outlet is given by Eq. (1). _ _ m4 1 fe m4;v 1

A global and ammonia mass balance in the evaporator yields Eqs. (2) and (3); whereas from an energy balance Eq. (4) is obtained. 1 fe _ m3 1 fe fbd x4;v fe x4;l x4 1 fe   h4;v fe fbd h4;l _ _ h3 QE m3 1 fe fbd _ m4 2 3 4

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the absorption system and distillation column with complete condensation.

The stripping and rectifying eciencies are dened as the quotient of the ammonia vapour concentration enrichment value to the theoretical maximum value for the given

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vapour and liquid inlet conditions. In the stripping section, the progressive changes of the vapour conditions towards equilibrium with the inlet liquid are higher than the changes of the liquid conditions towards equilibrium with the inlet vapour, due to the liquid mass ow is much higher than the vapour mass ow. Therefore, the vapour Murphree eciency is used, according to Eq. (5) and Fig. 4. x14 x12 EFFstrip;v 5 xT 14 T 15 x12 However, in the rectifying section, the liquid ow rate depends on the reux ratio. Thus for low reux ratio values, the vapour eciency is used according to Eq. (6), whereas for high reux ratio the liquid eciency dened by Eq. (7) is used. As a result, in this paper, the highest value (which is the limiting value) of the liquid and vapour Murphree eciencies is considered as the rectifying section eciency. x18 x16 EEFrect;v 6 xT 18 T 19 x16 x19 x17 EEFrect;l 7 x19 xT 17 T 16 At the feed entry point, it is assumed that the liquid and vapour fractions of the feed ow mix with the downward liquid from the rectifying section and with the upward vapour from the stripping section, respectively. The liquid reux from the condenser to the column can be obtained from the distillate vapour mass ow and the internal reux ratio, according to Eq. (8) and Fig. 4. r _ m19 _ m18 8

Table 1 Operating conditions Evaporation temperature, TE (C) Generation temperature, TG (C) Condensation temperature, TC (C) Absorption temperature, TA (C) Temperature variation in evaporator, DTE (C) Internal reux ratio, r Absorber eciency, EFFA Liquidvapour heat exchanger eciency, EFFlv Solution heat exchanger eciency, EFFssws Pump eciency, EFFp Stripping section eciency, EFFstrip Rectifying section eciency, EFFrect Liquid entrainment fraction, fe Liquid blow-down fraction, fbd 10 115 30 30 10 0.2 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.95 0.95 0.01 0.02

Table 2 Validation model data Evaporation temperature, TE (C) Generation temperature, TG (C) Condensation temperature, TC (C) Absorption temperature, TA (C) Liquid blow-down, fbd Liquid entrainment fraction, fe Internal reux ratio, r Absorber eciency, EFFA Liquidvapour heat exchanger eciency, EFFlv Solution heat exchanger eciency, EFFssws Pump eciency, EFFp 20 137.5 35.7 32.2 0.02 0 0.292 0.94 0.90 0.84 0.5

tor. The model results provide a relative dierence with respect to the reported COP of 2%. 5.2. Eects of distillation column design parameters The results presented here examine the eects of the stripping and rectifying sections eciencies and the reux ratio on the distillate concentration attained, as well as, the inuence of this refrigerant concentration on the absorption system performance, taking into account the use of a ooded evaporator. Figs. 5 and 6 show the eect of the ammonia concentration of the distillate vapour on the absorption system operation and performance. The values of the ammonia concentration shown in these gures include values of the stripping and rectifying sections eciencies higher than 0.35 and 0.65, respectively (EFFstrip > 0.35 and EFFrect > 0.65). It should be noticed that a solution cannot be found for the complete range of eciencies analysed. The ammonia concentration of the distillate vapour obtained will have a deep impact on the absorption system operation and performance, regardless of the eciencies of the stripping and rectifying sections. Fig. 5 shows that when decreasing the distillate ammonia concentration, the absorption system COP and the system pressures decrease and the liquid water concentration in the evaporator increases. It should be noted that the distillate concentrations used in

5. Results and discussion The mathematical model described in the previous section has been implemented in a computer program using Fortran 95. The model has been used to simulate and analyse the performance of the ammoniawater absorption system described above. The analysis has been performed varying the distillation column parameters, the evaporator operational parameters (entrainment and blow-down) and the system operating conditions one at a time while keeping the others parameters that dene its operation at a constant value. The operating conditions are indicated in Table 1. 5.1. Model validation The implemented model has been validated for a dry type evaporator using three dierent sources of experimental data, as described in Ref. [12]. The model has also been validated for AARS with a ooded evaporator against data taken from Ref. [10] with satisfactory results. Table 2 shows data taken from Ref. [10] used for validation that correspond to a simple stage absorption refrigeration machine with a liquid blow-down fraction of 0.02 from the evapora-

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Fig. 5. System COP, liquid concentration in the evaporator and system pressures as a function of the refrigerant concentration.

refrigerant concentration on the absorption system performance are qualitatively similar, as also explained in Section 2 of this paper. However, these eects are highly strengthened when a ooded evaporator is used. Therefore, a higher refrigerant concentration is required for a correct operation in this type of systems. The main reason of these dierences is water accumulation in the evaporator. The conclusions about the evolution of the operating parameters in an ammoniawater absorption system when the refrigerant concentration diminishes drawn from Figs. 5 and 6 are general and do not depend on the system operating conditions. Moreover, the numerical results presented in these gures allow quantifying the eect of the refrigerant concentration on the system performance taken into account the operating conditions shown in Table 1. 5.3. Eects of evaporator operational parameters The evaporator parameters that are analysed in this section are the entrainment fraction (fe) and the blow-down fraction (fbd) removed from the evaporator. If not specied, the remaining data of the absorption system are considered constant and with the values indicated in Table 1. Fig. 7 shows the pressure in the evaporator as a function of the refrigerant water content for dierent values of the entrainment or blow-down fractions. The values of the refrigerant water content were obtained varying the rectifying section eciency from 0.6 to 1. These results include the case when the liquid entrainment is varied with no liquid blow-down (fbd = 0) and also the case of varying the liquid blow-down fraction when no entrainment is considered (fe = 0); both cases produce the same eect on the evaporator pressure. For a constant value of entrainment (fe) or blow-down (fbd), the pressure in the evaporator/ absorber diminishes when the refrigerant water content increases. This eect is stressed from a given value of the water content that increases with higher entrainment or blow-down values. However, as entrainment or blow-down

Fig. 6. Refrigerant, strong solution and weak solution mass ow rates per unit of cooling power and strong solution and weak solution concentrations as a function of the refrigerant concentration.

Fig. 5 are high; thus, this gure reects the critical eects of the refrigerant concentration in this type of systems. Thereby, Fig. 5 shows that when varying the refrigerant water content from 0% to 1.5%, the liquid water content in the evaporator rises up to 50%, the evaporation pressure drops from 2.9 to 0.9 bar, the condensation pressure drops slightly from 11.7 to 11.5 bar and the absorption system COP falls from 0.48 to nearly 0 (operation is not possible). Results in Fig. 6 show that when increasing the refrigerant water concentration, the weak solution concentration remains nearly constant, similarly to the pressure in the condenser and generator; whereas the strong solution concentration decreases signicantly due to the reduction of the pressure in the evaporator and absorber. The refrigerant mass ow rate remains practically constant, whereas the weak and strong solution mass ow rates increase with a reduction of the refrigerant concentration and this eect is stressed when the strong solution concentration converges to the weak solution concentration. A similar analysis to the one presented here for an ammoniawater absorption system with a dry-type evaporator is reported in Ref. [12]. In both cases, the eects of the

Fig. 7. Evaporator pressure as a function of the refrigerant water content for dierent values of the entrainment fraction or blow-down fraction in the evaporator.

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Fig. 8. Absorption system COP as a function of the refrigerant water content for dierent values of the entrainment fraction or blow-down fraction in the evaporator.

increases, the tolerate water content to keep the evaporator pressure over a given value increases signicantly. In Fig. 8 the absorption system COP for the previous results is shown. The COP decreases with the refrigerant water content due to a reduction of the pressure in the evaporator and the consequences that it produces. At a rst glance, increasing the entrainment fraction (fe) will seem to reduce the system COP, since this fraction of the refrigerant mass ow was produced in the generator but it does not contribute to the refrigeration eect. On the other hand, increasing the entrainment (fe) reduces the water accumulation in the evaporator; this prevents an inadequate reduction of the pressure in the evaporator that would increase the strong solution concentration and the solution mass ow rates, resulting in higher heat powers in the generator and lower system COPs. Therefore, the eect of the entrainment (fe) in the system COP must be evaluated numerically. Results in Fig. 8 show that for given refrigerant water content, the absorption system COP increases with increasing the entrainment (fe) up to fractions of 1%. For larger values, an optimum value of entrainment (fe) can be found. Fig. 8 also shows that when varying the blow-down fraction (fbd) the COP values are slightly lower than when varying the entrainment factor (fe). The reason is that, for the system considered in this analysis, the entrainment ow rate participates in the heat exchange process in the liquidvapour heat exchanger, whereas the blow-down ow rate does not. However, these dierences are insignicant for low values of the entrainment and blow-down fractions (the curves overlap in Fig. 8). If high values of the blow-down fraction are required, then a new heat exchanger should be added to the system in order to recover the refrigeration capacity of the blow-down by an additional subcooling of the liquid from the condenser. Therefore, the new heat exchanger should be located between the liquid current from the condenser and the blow-down ow from the purge system.

From results in Fig. 8 it is clear that a liquid entrainment rate is benecial in an ammoniawater absorption system. Therefore, the precautions in evaporator designs used in mechanical refrigeration systems such as baes, demisters, etc., to prevent liquid entrainment are not necessary but inconvenient. Prediction of liquid entrainment in evaporators is a dicult task since it depends on many factors such as the evaporator design, mixture properties, liquid level, vapour ow rate, etc. Even though there are some experimental correlations [16] to predict vapour entrainment, it is an uncontrollable parameter. Therefore, it is more cautious to rely on the blow-down fraction for a correct operation of the absorption system since it is an easier parameter to control. Fig. 9 shows the absorption system COP as a function of the liquid blow-down fraction (fbd) for dierent values of the rectifying section eciency and not considering liquid entrainment (fe = 0). This gure reects, once again, the requirement of a liquid blow-down in the evaporator, even for high rectifying eciency values; in other case, the COP would drop signicantly, or operation at the desired conditions would not be possible. Moreover, an optimum value of the blow-down fraction (fbd) that results in a maximum COP exists. This optimum value increases when decreasing the rectifying section eciency. Finally, it can be seen that for a given value of the rectifying section eciency, the system COP decreases slightly for a blow-down fraction (fbd) higher than the optimum one whereas falls sharply for lower values than the optimum one. Therefore, it seems reasonable to design the system to operate with blow-down fractions (fbd) somehow higher than the optimum. Fig. 10 shows the previous data but as a function of the evaporator pressure. It can be seen that for any value of the rectifying section eciency (EFFrect) a value of the evaporator pressure exists that maximizes the absorption system COP. The points shown for each curve in Figs. 9 and 10 correspond to dierent and equidistant values of the liquid blow-down fractions (fbd). Thus, a step change increasing the blow-down fraction (fbd) over the optimum value

Fig. 9. Absorption system COP as a function of the liquid blow-down fraction in the evaporator for dierent values of the rectifying section eciency.

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Fig. 10. Absorption system COP as a function of the evaporator pressure for dierent values of the rectifying section eciency and not considering liquid entrainment (fe = 0).

implies a slightly higher evaporator pressure and a slightly lower system COP; whereas the same step change but decreasing fbd under the optimum value implies a sharp decrease of the evaporator pressure and system COP. Therefore, it is concluded that in an ammoniawater absorption system with a ooded evaporator it would be convenient to control the liquid blow-down from the evaporator to the absorber in order to keep an evaporator pressure somehow higher than the optimum one. It should be noted that generally some liquid entrainment would probably occur. However, this is not of concern since it produces the same eect in the evaporator pressure that the liquid blow-down, as shown in Fig. 7, and the evaporation pressure can be controlled as indicated above by modifying the blow-down ow rate in the purge system. Finally, Fig. 11 shows the system COP when varying the reux ratio in the distillation column for dierent values of the liquid blow-down fraction and not considering liquid entrainment in the evaporator. Results in Fig. 11 show that an optimum value of the reux ratio exists for each blowdown fraction, and similarly, an optimum value of the

blow-down fraction can be found for each reux ratio. Moreover, it is known that, in a single-stage ammonia water absorption system, an optimum value of the generation temperature can be found for a given application [17]. Thus, it is concluded that an optimal combination of the generation temperature, reux ratio and liquid blow-down fraction can be found and it should be considered in designing a system. These optimum values should be taken into account in the control strategies for the optimization of AARS operation. Moreover, the AARS that operate at high generating temperatures such as GAX type systems require distillation columns with high eciencies due to the low ammonia concentration of the vapour at the generator outlet. Taking into account the operating conditions in Table 1, if the generation temperature rises to 150 C, the stripping and rectifying eciencies should be increased to 0.975 in order to reach the same refrigerant concentration at the outlet of the distillation column. If the generation temperature increases to 180 C, then the refrigerant concentration cannot be attained by increasing the column eciencies and the reux ratio has to be increased (for a stripping and rectifying eciencies of 0.99 the reux ratio should be 0.27). 6. Conclusions The eects of the ammonia purication and the liquid entrainment and blow-down from the evaporator in ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems with ooded evaporators have been analyzed. The analysis has been based on a single stage system with complete condensation. The ammonia purication has been evaluated by means of the Murphree eciencies of the stripping and rectifying sections of the distillation column. The entrainment and blowdown from the evaporator have been evaluated considering that the corresponding ow rates are a weight fraction of the dry vapour at the evaporator outlet. The analysis allows in drawing the following conclusions. The use of high eciencies in the stripping and rectifying sections results in higher refrigerant ammonia concentrations, which lead to higher values of the absorption system COP, higher values of the system pressures and higher values of the weak solution and strong solution concentrations. These eects are qualitatively similar in dry and ooded type evaporators. However, in a system with a ooded evaporator these eects are stressed due to water accumulation in the evaporator. If no liquid entrainment or blow-down in the ooded evaporator is considered, very high eciencies in the distillation column are required for correct operation of the absorption system. Therefore, the use of both the stripping and rectifying sections with high eciencies is highly recommended in these systems. Small values of liquid entrainment or blow-down fractions increase signicantly the operating range of the absorption system and smoothes the eciency requirements of the distillation column. The eects of the liquid entrainment and blow-down fractions in the water liquid

Fig. 11. Absorption system COP as a function of the reux ratio for dierent values of the liquid blow-down fraction and not considering liquid entrainment (fe = 0).

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concentration in the evaporator and evaporator pressure are the same. However, in the system considered in the analysis, the COP is somehow higher for a given value of the entrainment fraction than for the same value of the blowdown fraction, since the entrainment ow rate participates in the heat exchange process in the liquidvapour heat exchanger, whereas the blow-down ow rate does not. If high values of the blow-down fraction are required, then a new heat exchanger should be added to the system in order to recover the refrigeration capacity of the blow-down by additional subcooling of the liquid from the condenser. The system design should be based on the liquid blowdown rate from the evaporator rather than on the liquid entrainment, as this is not an easy controllable parameter and the COP dierences are not signicant. For a xed value of the distillation column eciency, an optimum value of the liquid blow-down fraction exists for which the absorption system COP is maximum. This results in an optimum value of the evaporator pressure. The optimum value of the liquid blow-down fraction increases when decreasing the distillation column eciency. Higher blowdown values than the optimum one result in a slightly lower absorption system COP and slightly higher evaporator pressure, whereas values lower than the optimum one produce a sharp decrease of the system COP and evaporator pressure. Therefore, the required liquid blow-down can be established for an evaporator pressure value somehow higher than the optimum one. Finally an optimum combination of generation temperature, reux ratio and blow-down fraction can be found, which should be considered in designing an ammonia water absorption refrigeration system. These optimum values should be taken into account in the control strategies for the optimization of AARS operation. Appendix A Summary of the model equations (according to Fig. 4). Condenser: _ _ _ m18 m1 m19 _ _ _ _ QC m18 h18 m1 h1 m19 h19 Absorber with blow-down injection: _ m4 fbd _ m6 0 1 fe _ m4 x4;l fbd _ _ _ m6 x6 0 m5 x5 m11 x11 1 fe x6 x11 EFFA xl;satT6 ;pE x11 _ m4 h4;l fbd _ _ _ _ QA m5 h5 m11 h11 m 6 h6 1 fe _ _ m5 m11 Pump: h7 h 6 pC pE q6 EFFp A:7 A:3 A:4 A:5 A:6 A:1 A:2

Liquidvapour heat exchanger: _ _ A:8 m1 h1 h2 m4 h4 h5 0 _ m1 h1 h2 A:9 EFFlv _ _ minm1 h1 hT 2 T 4 ; m4 hT 5 T 1 h4 Solution heat exchanger: _ _ A:10 m7 h7 h8 m9 h9 h10 0 _ m9 h9 h10 EFFssws _ _ minm9 h9 hT 10 T 7 ; m7 hT 8 T 9 h7 A:11 Generator: _ _ _ m13 m12 m9 _ _ _ m13 x13 m12 x12 m9 x9 _ G m12 h12 m9 h9 m13 h13 _ _ _ Q Stripping section: _ _ _ _ m12 m15 m13 m14 _ _ _ _ m12 x12 m15 x15 m13 x13 m14 x14 _ _ _ _ m12 h12 m15 h15 m13 h13 m14 h14 Rectifying section: _ _ _ _ m16 m19 m17 m18 _ _ _ _ m16 x16 m19 x19 m17 x17 m18 x18 _ _ _ _ m16 h16 m19 h19 m17 h17 m18 h18 Column feed point: _ _ _ m16 m14 m8 n8 _ _ _ m16 x16 m14 x14 m8 n8 x8;v _ _ _ m16 h16 m14 h14 m8 n8 h8;v _ _ _ m15 m17 m8 1 n8 _ _ _ m15 x15 m17 x17 m8 1 n8 x8;l _ _ _ m15 h15 m17 h17 m8 1 n8 h8;l References
[1] J. Bassols, B. Kuckelkorn, J. Langreck, R. Schneider, H. Veelken, Trigeneration in the food industry, Appl. Therm. Eng. 22 (6) (2002) 595602. [2] F. Ziegler, Recent developments and future prospects of sorption heat pump systems, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 38 (3) (1999) 191208. [3] M.J.P. Bogart, Pitfalls in ammonia absorption refrigeration, Int. J. Refrig. 5 (4) (1982) 203208. [4] K.E. Herold, R. Radermacher, S.A. Klein, Absorption Chillers and Heat Pumps, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1996. [5] Y.T. Kang, W. Chen, R.N. Christensen, Development of design model for a rectier in GAX absorption heat pump systems, ASHRAE Trans. 102 (pt. 1) (1996) 963972. [6] J. Fernandez-Seara, J. Sieres, M. Vazquez, Heat and mass transfer analysis of a helical coil rectier in an ammoniawater absorption system, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 42 (4) (2003) 783794. [7] G. Anand, D.C. Erickson, Compact Sieve-tray distillation column for ammoniawater absorption heat pump: Part I Design methodology, ASHRAE Trans. 105 (pt. 1) (1999) 796803.

A:12 A:13 A:14

A:15 A:16 A:17

A:18 A:19 A:20

A:21 A:22 A:23 A:24 A:25 A:26

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J. Fernandez-Seara, J. Sieres / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22362246 [13] T.K. Sherwood, R.L. Pigford, C.R. Wilke, Mass Transfer, McGrawHill Inc., New York, 1975. [14] B. Ziegler, Ch. Trepp, Equation of state of ammoniawater mixtures, Int. J. Refrig. 7 (2) (1984) 101106. [15] J. Sieres Atienza, Theoretical and experimental study of the heat and mass transfer processes in packed distillation columns for ammonia water absorption refrigeration systems, Ph.D. thesis, University of Vigo, Spain, 2005 (in Spanish). [16] I. Paradissiadis, F. Widmer, Prediction of liquid entrainment in evaporators, Chem. Eng. Process. 18 (1984) 249253. [17] J. Fernandez-Seara, M. Vazquez, Study and control of the optimal generation temperature in NH3H2O absorption refrigeration systems, Appl. Therm. Eng. 21 (3) (2001) 343357.

[8] J. Fernandez-Seara, J. Sieres, M. Vazquez, Simultaneous heat and mass transfer of a packed distillation column for ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 41 (10) (2002) 927935. [9] J. Sieres, J. Fernandez-Seara, Evaluation of the column components size on the vapour enrichment and system performance in small power NH3H2O absorption refrigeration machines, Int. J. Refrig., in press. [10] M.J.P. Bogart, Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration in Industrial Processes, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, 1981. [11] J. Fernandez-Seara, J. Sieres, M. Vazquez, Distillation column congurations in ammoniawater absorption refrigeration systems, Int. J. Refrig. 26 (1) (2003) 2834. [12] J. Fernandez-Seara, J. Sieres, The importance of the ammonia purication process in ammoniawater absorption systems, Energy Conv. Manag. 47 (1314) (2006) 19751987.