Solubility of nitrogen in one-component refrigerants: Prediction by PC-SAFT EoS and a correlation of Henry’s law constants

Even small amount of non-condensable gas – mostly air or nitrogen – present inside a compression refrigerating circuit may decrease the efficiency of the cooling system. So far, a quantitative assessment of the effect of dissolved gases on the cooling circuit performance is hindered by unavailability of suitable thermodynamic models. In this study, we analyzed the solubility of nitrogen in the following refrigerants: hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) R22, R123, R124; hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) R23, R32, R125, R134a; perfluorocarbons (PFC) R14, R116, R218, R-3-1-10; and hydrocarbons (HC) R290, R600a. Perturbed-Chain (PC) Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT) and its modification for polar fluids PCP-SAFT were used to model the temperature dependence of the Henry’s law constant of nitrogen. A simple correlation of the Henry’s law constants valid over large temperature ranges was developed, suitable for assessment of the adverse effects of dissolved nitrogen (and approximately air) on the performance of compression cooling systems.

► Non-condensing gases decrease efficiency of the compression cooling systems.
► The solubility of nitrogen in various one-component refrigerants was studied.
► It was used the PC-SAFT equation of state and its modification for polar fluids PCP-SAFT.
► Temperature-dependent Henry’s law constant correlations for nitrogen-refrigerant systems are provided.