Solar Absorption Refrigeration Systems Operating with Ionic Liquids as Absorbents and Ammonia as Refrigerant

SALSIR project belongs to a collaborative program sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (MICINN) and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST), which aims to promote scientific and technological exchange between the two countries.

The project began on 1st December, 2011, and it is 3 years long.

The main objectives of the project are :

• To develop suitable ionic liquids as absorbents for vapour absorption refrigeration systems based on ammonia as refrigerant and suitable for  refrigerators driven by heat from solar thermal energy.
• To delevop and test an absorption refrigerator with a cooling capacity of 3 kW operating down to -20 ^oC and heat input at temperatures in the range of about 100 ^oC with the new Ammonia/Ionic Liquid working pairs.

The work essentially consists of the following tasks :

• Preliminary study of the combination of ammonia with different ionic liquids.
• Selection of appropriate constituents of the ionic liquids for ammonia absorption.
• Synthesis of ionic liquids for screening and preliminary evaluation.
• Experimental determination of thermophysical properties of ionic liquids and their mixtures with ammonia .
• Simulation of complete vapour absorption refrigeration systems with different Ammonia-ionic liquid combinations.
• Heat and mass transfer studies during sorption and desorption processes.
• Design of different heat and mass transfer equipment such as generator, absorber and solution heat exchanger.
• Synthesis of appropriate ionic liquid in bulk quantities for use in a prototype refrigerator.
• Fabrication and testing of a prototype refrigerator.

At the end of the project the following outcomes are expected:

• Methods for the selection of ionic liquids having the desired properties for solar refrigeration.
• Suitable ionic liquids for the absorption of ammonia in absorption refrigeration
• A database of thermophysical properties of different ammonia/ionic liquid mixtures at different pressures, temperatures and compositions.
• Heat and mass transfer studies on ammonia/ionic liquid mixtures in heat exchangers, absorbers, generators, etc.
• A prototype vapour absorption refrigerator operating with ionic liquids as absorbent and ammonia as refrigerant capable of operating with solar heat input.