Experimental and Theoretical Study on Thermal Stability of Mixture R1234ze(E)/R32 in Organic Rankine Cycle

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  • Key Laboratory of Low-Grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China

Online published: 2023-11-27

Supported by

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52076018) and the graduate research and innovation foundation of Chongqing, China (Grant No. CYB22020).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract

The use of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for renewable energy utilization and industrial waste heat recovery is currently attracting growing attention. The working fluids in ORC may face thermally decompose during the working process. The thermal stability and pyrolysis mechanism of R1234ze(E)/R32 mixtures was studied by ReaxFF-MD simulations and DFT calculation. The experimental results indicated that the pyrolysis temperature range is 230°C–250°C for R1234ze(E), 270°C–290°C for R32 and 230°C–250°C for R1234ze(E)/R32 mixtures. The cleavage of C-H, C-C bond is the main decomposition pathway of pure R32, R1234ze(E), respectively. The decomposition rate of R32 is significantly slower than that of R1234ze(E). In the mixture R1234ze(E)/R32, R1234ze(E) can significantly promote the decomposition of R32, while R32 has a slight inhibitory effect on the decomposition of R1234ze(E). The CF3 radicals generated by the decomposition of R1234ze(E) significantly reduced the energy barrier of R32 decomposition and promoted the decomposition rate of R32. The H and F radical in the system is more inclined to react with R32 than R1234ze(E) due to their lower energy barrier. The increase of the pressure and mass ratio of R1234ze(E) in the mixture system has a great promoting effect on the pyrolysis of the mixtures.

Cite this article

LIU Jinyu, LIU Yu, LIU Chao, XIN Liyong, YU Wei . Experimental and Theoretical Study on Thermal Stability of Mixture R1234ze(E)/R32 in Organic Rankine Cycle[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2023 , 32(4) : 1595 -1613 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-023-1790-2

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