Scientists identify green material for refrigeration
LONDON: Researchers have identified an eco-friendly solid that could replace the inefficient and polluting gases used in most refrigerators and air conditioners.
When put under pressure, plastic crystals of neopentylglycol yield huge cooling effects, and are competitive with conventional coolants.
The material is inexpensive, widely available and functions at close to room temperature, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The gases currently used in the vast majority of refrigerators and air conditioners — hydrofluorocarbons and hydrocarbons (HFCS and HCS) — are toxic and flammable.
When they leak into the air, they also contribute to global warming.
“Refrigerators and air conditioners based on HFCS and HCS are also relatively inefficient,” said Xavier Moya, from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
“That is important because refrigeration and air conditioning currently devour a fifth of the energy produced worldwide, and demand for cooling is only going up,” said Moya.
To solve these problems, materials scientists around the world have sought alternative solid refrigerants.
Moya and collaborators from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya and the Universitat de Barcelona in Spain described the enormous thermal changes under pressure achieved with plastic crystals.
Conventional cooling technologies rely on the thermal changes that occur when a compressed fluid expands.
Most cooling devices work by compressing and expanding fluids such as HFCS and HCS.