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Experimental investigation on the performance of R290 and R454C as alternative refrigerants in commercial refrigerators and display cabinets.

Author(s) : LI M., ZHANG Y., ZHANG S., TIAN Y., LIU Y., ZHANG H.

Type of article: IJR article

Summary

Driven by the Kigali Amendment and Carbon Neutrality objectives, R404A will be gradually phased out, while it’s now being widely employed in commercial refrigeration equipment. R454C and R290, due to their low GWP and environmental friendliness, have become the most promising alternative refrigerants for commercial refrigeration. To compare the performance of these three different refrigerants in light commercial refrigeration equipment, different commercial refrigerators and display cabinets are tested in our environmental test laboratory.
Critical parameters are compared including refrigerant charge amount, energy consumption, material costs, and carbon emissions of R404A, R454C, and R290 systems. The results indicated that compared with the R404A system, the 24-hour energy consumption of the R454C system can be reduced by about 5 %, and the total carbon emissions can be reduced by about 15 %. As for R290, the system charge is significantly reduced. The charge amounts for commercial refrigerators and display cabinets are only 20.6 % to 34.2 % and 16.4 % to 23.6 % of that of R404A, respectively, leading to a substantial reduction in refrigerant charging costs. Furthermore, the 24-hour energy consumption can be reduced by 16.7 % to 35 % and 11.9 % to 15.7 % respectively. Furthermore, commercial refrigerators demonstrate superior carbon reduction performance, achieving a reduction in carbon emissions ranging from 25.3 % to 43.7 %.

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Pages: 13 p.

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Details

  • Original title: Experimental investigation on the performance of R290 and R454C as alternative refrigerants in commercial refrigerators and display cabinets.
  • Record ID : 30034772
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Technology
  • Source: International Journal of Refrigeration - Revue Internationale du Froid - vol. 185
  • Publication date: 2026/05
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2026.02.012

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