A Refrigeration System for Removal of Carbon Dioxide from Antarctica's Atmosphere

Johnathan
1Purdue 2 Purdue

1, Rogers

Ernest

2 Agee

University, Civil Engineering, rogersjc@purdue.edu

University, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, eagee@purdue.edu

Typical Antarctica Landfill
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: The design of the carbon dioxide deposition plant included a few assumptions that will cause slight changes to the overall design parameters of an actual facility. Making the compressor adiabatic is the first assumption. There will likely be heat loss to the environment during this stage but it will be neglected in the first run. The same is true in the expansion valve. Lastly there are two different refrigeration cycles that have been designed. The first design is based on compressing the nitrogen down to 300 bars. This design would cause the temperature of the nitrogen to become 230 degrees Kelvin when entering the heat exchanger. This temperature is only a few degrees warmer than the average Antarctica Temperature of 224 degrees Kelvin. An alternate approach would be to increase the pressure in the compressor up to 600 bars. The temperature of the nitrogen entering the heat exchanger would then be 272 degrees Kelvin. The higher temperature would allow for heat exchange throughout the entire year even during the warmer months. The amount of energy that would be required for each cycle would be 2.089 x 108 KJ in the 300 bar compression cycle. The energy required would be 3.467 x 108 KJ in the 600 bar compression cycle. The extra energy would go directly to powering other equipment and facilities. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the 300 bar system is 0.653 and the 600 bar system is 0.393. These values are a ratio of units of energy put in over unit of energy of cooling. We are putting a lot more energy in per cooling unit in both systems. As a recommendation the cycle that compresses the nitrogen to 300 bars would be the most ideal cycle to use. If that cycle is used the amount of power required over the course of a year would be 60.824 gigawatts for removal of a billions tons of carbon dioxide. In comparison the United States consumes about 4000 gigawatts according to the Environmental Information Administration. The amount of power required is can be achieved but it will be an enormous effort and cost.
REFERENCES: "Climate Conditions - Weather in Antarctica - Antarctic Connection." Antarctic Connection -. Web. 30 Mar. 2011. <http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/weather/climate.shtml >. Jabonson, Richard T., and Richard B. Stewart. "Thermodynamic Properties of Nitrogen Including Liquid and Vapor Phases from 63 K to 2000 K with Pressures to 10,000 Bar." Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Idaho (1973). Print. Moran, M. J., and H. N. Shapiro. "Refrigeration." Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics. Print. "Quick Facts on Ice Sheets." National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The National Snow and Ice Data Center. Web. 08 Apr. 2011. <http://nsidc.org/quickfacts/icesheets.html>.

Carbon Dioxide Emitting Factory

ABSTRACT: This design project is a companion poster to another undergraduate student's exhibit entitled "CO2 Snow Deposition in Antarctica to Curtail Anthropogenic Global Warming." This design will be based on a closed loop thermodynamic cycle that uses liquid N2 as the refrigerant. CO2 in terrestrial air (P = 1 bar) undergoes "snow" deposition at T = 136.1K, which is a temperature that allows all other atmospheric gases (N2 O2 and Ar) to remain in the gas phase. The proposed design requires liquid N2 to be at a temperature < 136.1K, and a reasonable target is liquid N2 at T = 120K (which is pressurized to P = 29.61 bars). Design of the principal work and heat transfers for the various stages in the thermodynamic cycle (from evaporator to compressor to condenser and return through an expansion valve) will be presented. Efficiency of the proposed system will be evaluated, including the

operational energy requirements per refrigeration unit, to help achieve the goal of reducing atmospheric CO2.
OBJECTIVE: To develop a Thermodynamic Refrigeration System that can cause Carbon Dioxide in terrestrial air to freeze and snow out of the terrestrial air. INTRODUCTION: Global anthropogenic carbon dioxide has been increasing by a rate of approximately 2.0 ppmv annually and the increase is one of the likely sources of global climate change. The Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide chart featured above shows the increase since data started getting collected in 1958. With the problem of global change threatening many parts of the world a plan to curtail one of the most likely contributors to the change, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, must move forward. Cooling air down to a temperature where carbon dioxide will solidify into snow is a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. A series of carbon dioxide deposition plants placed in Antarctica will be a way to remove 1 billion tons carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. Antarcticas climate makes it the most ideal place to put Deposition plants. Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth and as a result the amount of energy that will be required to cool air down to at least 136 degrees Kelvin (the deposition temperature of carbon dioxide) will be the lowest. The air will cool and the carbon dioxide will fall to the bottom of plant and then it will be removed to an insulated landfill. The refrigeration cycle will be powered by wind turbines. Carbon Dioxide Deposition Plant Design The plants will be a closed loop vapor compression refrigeration system on a massive scale that has width length and depth of 100 meters. The vapor compression cycle the deposition plant follow can be seen on figure (1). The cycle will start with nitrogen gas that has just left the condenser (refrigeration of ambient atmospheric air) and will enter a compressor. The nitrogen that enters the compressor will be at state 1 (states 1-4 are in table 1 for reference). The nitrogen will leave the adiabatic compressor at state 2. Once the liquid nitrogen moves from the compressor it enters a heat exchanger where the gas nitrogen is cooled to a liquid. In this step an additional system will capture the heat thats lost from the nitrogen loop and this energy will be used for heating any necessary facilities. The nitrogen (now in liquid form) exits the heat exchanger at state 3. The next device the nitrogen will enter is a expansion valve. As the nitrogen passes through the expansion valve entropy is constant but the temperature and pressure change. The nitrogen exits the expansion valve at state 4, a liquid-vapor mixture. The liquid-vapor mixture of nitrogen then enters the condenser where it takes in heat from the ambient atmosphere cooling that air down to 136 degrees Kelvin. This closes the loop of the refrigeration cycle. The carbon dioxide that has undergone deposition will fall out of the air and be transported to an insulated landfill. It should also be noted that in figure 1 and table 1 there are two alternate states. These states relate to an alternate design that will be discussed in the results.

Figure 1: Vapor Compression Refrigeration Schematic

Figure 2: Vapor Compression Refrigeration P-H Diagram

State 1 2 2A 3 3A 4

T (K) 120 230 272 123.3 123.3 120

P (Bar) 29.133 300 600 300 600 29.133

H (KJ/KG) 75.112 171.43 234.95

s (KJ/KG-K) 4.63 4.63 4.63

% Vapor 40% 100% 100% 0% 0% 40%

12.21 Not Needed 12.24 Not Needed 12.1481 Not Needed

Table 1: Vapor Compression Refrigeration States 1-4

Figure 3: Carbon Dioxide Readings at Mauna Loa

"Table 8.2a Electricity Net Generation: Total (All Sectors), 1949-2009 (Sum of Tables 8.2b and 8.2d; Billion Kilowatthours)." Web. 09 Apr. 2011. <http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0802a.html>.