Lubricant Development to Meet

Lower GWP Refrigerant

Challenges
2014 Purdue Conference
Refrigerant & Lubricant
Design & Analysis I

Joe Karnaz
Global Technology Leader
July 17th, 2014

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 What are the Challenges?
 Miscibility Primary focus for
this discussion.
 HFC - 32
Secondary focus
 HFO Blends
for this discussion.
 Solubility
 HFO-1234ze(E)
 HC (R-290)
 Stability
 HFO-1234yf
 Maintaining Performance and Reliability
 All new refrigerants
© 2014 CPI. All rights reserved. 2
 Why are We Facing Challenges
• Refrigerants with High Global Warming Potential (GWP) Values
• Additional Concerns with:
• High Pressure
• Flammability
• Maintaining or Improving Performance
Refrigerant GWP Safety and Other Considerations Misc.
Rating of slightly flammable. Considered to be an R-134a
HFO- Class of compounds that has an replacement but potentially not a
1 unsaturated bond. drop-in. Currently used as a low
1234ze(E)
GWP foam blowing agent.
Rating of slightly flammable. Currently used in R-410A refrigerant
HFC-32 675 as a blend component at 50%.

Non-toxic and could be slightly Alternatives for HFC-404A; HFC-

flammable to non-flammable. 410A; HFC-134a and HCFC-22.
HFO Blends Various GWP values from 100 to 1000. Mainly blended with other HFC
refrigerants.
3
 Industry Interaction

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 Lubricant and Refrigerant Interaction Properties

Why are they important?

• Initial investigation for what combination will work best.
• Preliminary investigation into system optimization.
• Cost effective analysis.
• Able to evaluate in a timely manner.
 Important Interactions
• Miscibility
• Solubility / Working Viscosity
• Stability
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 Miscibility
Lower Critical
IMMISCIBLE Solution
Temperature
(CST)
TEMPERATURE

MISCIBLE

Upper Critical
Solution
Temperature
IMMISCIBLE (CST)

CONCENTRATION
6
Solubility

7
 Pressure-Viscosity-Temperature (PVT)

400
200
1.5 bar
100
50
30
20
2 bar

10
7
Kinematic Viscosity, cSt

5
2.5 bar

3 bar

0% neat lube
3
4 bar

5 bar

2 5%
6 bar

8 bar

10%
10 bar

12.5bar

15 bar
1

0.75 20%

0.5 5.5339822
30%
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130

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8
 Stability

• Quick way to evaluate a

refrigeration system
• Test compatibility of materials
• Evaluate system reliability
New Oil 8 Weeks 9
 Lubricant Optimization

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 HFC -32 – Miscibility

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 HFC -32 – Working Viscosity
Maintaining Miscibility but what is sacrificed?

Miscibility, Working Viscosity at Max

POE Viscosity Refrigerant
10% Load Condition
VG 32 (Current) HFC-410A -35°C 7.2 cSt

VG 32 (New) HFC-32 -35°C 5.5 cSt

VG68 (Current) HFC-410A -15°C 12.0 cSt

VG68 (New) HFC-32 -15°C 9.0 cSt

© 2014 CPI. All rights reserved. 12

 HFC -32 – Working Viscosity

Making changes to improve viscosity.

Miscibility, Working Viscosity at Max
POE Viscosity Refrigerant
10% Load Conditions
VG 32 (Current) HFC-410A -35°C 7.2 cSt

VG 32 (New) HFC-32 -35°C 5.5 cSt

VG32 (Current) HFC-32 10°C 6.0 cSt

Viscosity
HFC-32 5°C 6.9 cSt
Change

© 2014 CPI. All rights reserved. 13

Solubility – HFO-1234ze(E)

R-134a and HFO-1234ze(E) Comparison

600C and 7.5 bar; Viscosity at 400C

% Dilution and Dilution

POE Lubricant and

R-134a 15% 22 cSt

POE Lubricant and

HFO-1234ze(E) 25% 7 cSt

14
 Working Viscosity – HFO1234ze(E)
120

100
Working Viscosity
Viscosity vs. Temperature
80 3 Bar
cSt

R-134a
60
Viscosity Change
HFO-1234ze(E)
40

20

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

0C
15
 Working Viscosity – HFO1234ze(E)
14

12 Working Viscosity
Viscosity vs. Temperature
10
10 Bar
8
cSt

R-134a
Viscosity Change
6
HFO-1234ze(E)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0C
16
 Working Viscosity – HFO1234ze(E)
25

Working Viscosity
20 Viscosity vs. Temperature
10 Bar
15
cSt

R-134a
Chemistry Change
10 HFO-1234ze(E)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0C
17
 Miscibility – HFO/HFC Blends
ISO ISO ISO
32 32 68 First Look!
10% -15 -25 0
POE Lubricants

• HFO refrigerants blended with

HFC refrigerants can have
20% -10 -20 5 similar properties to some HFC
refrigerants.
• Whether HFO-1234yf or HFO-
ISO ISO ISO 1234ze(E) is used could dictate
if slight changes are required to
32 32 68
maintain miscibility properties.
• Overall POE lubricants can be
10% -30 -25 -20
used with both HFO and
HFO/HFC blends of
20% -20 -20 -15 refrigerants.

© 2014 CPI. All rights reserved. 18

 Conclusions
• Challenges exist when changes are made.
• Some lower GWP refrigerants could require investigation
for optimization with lubricants.
• HFC-32 and HFO-1234ze(E) appear to behave different
than some traditional refrigerants regarding miscibility,
solubility and working viscosity.
 These properties will need to be measured and not
estimated or modeled for accurate evaluation.
• Lubricants like POE typically used with HFC refrigerants
are good options for HFO/HFC refrigerant blends.
© 2014 CPI. All rights reserved. 19
 Thank You

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