Ammonia (NH3)
Ammonia is the primary and most widely used refrigerant worldwide in industrial refrigeration applications. It is mainly used in large installations such as deep-freeze stores, slaughterhouses, breweries, central refrigeration in the chemical industry and ice rinks. Cascade systems where CO2 and ammonia are used in parallel are becoming increasingly popular.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The advantages of ammonia are its large specific enthalpy of vaporisation, its environmentally friendly properties and many years of experience as a refrigerant. Ammonia counts as natural refrigerant because of its low GWP. Difficulties arise especially from the toxic, odor-intensive effect of ammonia and the material incompatibility with copper and brass. The installation costs increase due to the higher safety requirements.
PROPERTIES
- R717
- Global Warming Potential (GWP): 0
- Density (0 °C): 638.6 kg/m3
- Spec. heat (0 °C): 4.616 kJ/kgK
- Vapor pressure (0 °C): 0.429 Mpa / 60 psia
