TO-22-C022 - Lifetime CO2 Emissions Assessment for R1234yf As a Low GWP Drop-In Alternative for R134a in Domestic Refrigerators

Aligning with the global movements towards mitigating CO2 emissions and regulations to phase-down HFC refrigerants, many low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants are being tested and proposed as fourth-generation refrigerants. R1234yf (HFO-1234yf) is a refrigerant with GWP <1 (0.31) and has replaced R134a (HFC-134a), which has GWP 1300, in automobile air conditioning systems and has a high potential to replace it in domestic refrigerators. In this paper, an energy performance evaluation and a life cycle climate performance assessment for R1234yf were conducted and compared to R134a. The study involved two identical domestic refrigerators with the same refrigerant charge that is recommended by the manufacturer. R1234yf showed resulted in similar cabinets air and refrigerant temperatures. However, the discharge temperature for the R1234yf refrigerator was relatively higher temperature than that for R134a. Also, R1234yf demonstrated higher daily energy consumption and more extended compressor run-time than of R134a. On the other hand, R1234yf proved significantly lower direct emissions and higher indirect emissions than those caused by R134a. Overall, R1234yf resulted in 3% reduction in the Lifecycle Climate Performance (LCCP) CO2 emissions compared to R134a.