New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application

Abstract In hot climates, subcooling or after-cooling is an effective method to enhance the coefficient of performance (COP) of CO2 transcritical refrigeration system. This study investigates improvement of two contemporary subcooling arrangements: Integrated mechanical subcooling (IMS) and dedicate...

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Main Authors: Prosenjit Singha, Chayan Das, Mani Sankar Dasgupta, Souvik Bhattacharyya, Armin Hafner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90067-3
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author Prosenjit Singha
Chayan Das
Mani Sankar Dasgupta
Souvik Bhattacharyya
Armin Hafner
author_facet Prosenjit Singha
Chayan Das
Mani Sankar Dasgupta
Souvik Bhattacharyya
Armin Hafner
author_sort Prosenjit Singha
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In hot climates, subcooling or after-cooling is an effective method to enhance the coefficient of performance (COP) of CO2 transcritical refrigeration system. This study investigates improvement of two contemporary subcooling arrangements: Integrated mechanical subcooling (IMS) and dedicated mechanical subcooling (DMS) and evaporative cooling arrangement to gascooler by introduction of gravity-fed evaporator in a dual evaporator parallel compression system suitable for milk processing. Using location-specific average meteorological data, the performance of the proposed systems is evaluated for Pune, India. Comparative analysis is conducted against a baseline transcritical CO2 system with flash gas bypass but lacking any subcooling arrangement. A considerable improvement in COP is observed when subcooling is combined with parallel compression. Incorporation of evaporative cooling with parallel compression yields 62.3% improvement in COP over the flash gas bypass system. However, heat recovery potential is considerably reduced by adopting evaporative cooling. Additionally, the study quantifies a potential reduction in water consumption of 45.6% over a system using flash gas bypass with an indirect evaporative cooling arrangement, and a reduction of 34.3% over a system employing parallel compression with a split gas cooler indirect evaporative cooling arrangement.
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spelling doaj-art-181d028f87834ea0bf763746f70c8fed2025-08-20T02:48:29ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-02-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-90067-3New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing applicationProsenjit Singha0Chayan Das1Mani Sankar Dasgupta2Souvik Bhattacharyya3Armin Hafner4Department of Mechanical Engineering, BITS PilaniDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, BITS PilaniDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, BITS PilaniTCG CRESTNorwegian University of Science and TechnologyAbstract In hot climates, subcooling or after-cooling is an effective method to enhance the coefficient of performance (COP) of CO2 transcritical refrigeration system. This study investigates improvement of two contemporary subcooling arrangements: Integrated mechanical subcooling (IMS) and dedicated mechanical subcooling (DMS) and evaporative cooling arrangement to gascooler by introduction of gravity-fed evaporator in a dual evaporator parallel compression system suitable for milk processing. Using location-specific average meteorological data, the performance of the proposed systems is evaluated for Pune, India. Comparative analysis is conducted against a baseline transcritical CO2 system with flash gas bypass but lacking any subcooling arrangement. A considerable improvement in COP is observed when subcooling is combined with parallel compression. Incorporation of evaporative cooling with parallel compression yields 62.3% improvement in COP over the flash gas bypass system. However, heat recovery potential is considerably reduced by adopting evaporative cooling. Additionally, the study quantifies a potential reduction in water consumption of 45.6% over a system using flash gas bypass with an indirect evaporative cooling arrangement, and a reduction of 34.3% over a system employing parallel compression with a split gas cooler indirect evaporative cooling arrangement.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90067-3CO2 transcriticalSubcoolingParallel compressionEnergy efficiencyEvaporative cooling
spellingShingle Prosenjit Singha
Chayan Das
Mani Sankar Dasgupta
Souvik Bhattacharyya
Armin Hafner
New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
Scientific Reports
CO2 transcritical
Subcooling
Parallel compression
Energy efficiency
Evaporative cooling
title New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
title_full New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
title_fullStr New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
title_full_unstemmed New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
title_short New approach to improve COP and heat recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
title_sort new approach to improve cop and heat recovery in transcritical co2 refrigeration system for milk processing application
topic CO2 transcritical
Subcooling
Parallel compression
Energy efficiency
Evaporative cooling
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90067-3
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