Sustainable HVAC in Industries Using TEC and Dry Ice

Abstract: Global warming is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, absorbing and emitting infrared radiation at its two infrared-active vibrational frequencies. The world-wide average CO2 emission by capita was about 4 tons per year in 2005. For North America it was about 20 tons and for Europe about 10 tons per year per capita. By 2050, the world-wide average CO2 emission per capita needs to be reduced to 2 tons per year. In the following years, the emissions will need again to be cut by half. On November 12, 2015, NASA scientists reported that human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) continues to increase above levels not seen in hundreds of thousands of years: currently, about half of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans. In recent years, with the increase awareness towards environmental degradation due to the production, use and disposal of Chloro Fluoro Carbons (CFCs) and Hydro Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as heat carrier fluids in conventional refrigeration and air conditioning systems has become a subject of great concern and resulted in extensive research into development of novel refrigeration and space conditioning technologies. Thermoelectric cooling provides a promising alternative R and AC technology due to their distinct advantages. Carbon dioxide captured from industrial flue gases is used to manufacture dry ice which in turn is used in HVAC for air-conditioning purpose. In the present work, cooling capacity is achieved using dry ice and with one peltier element. The new HVAC system is fabricated and tested for its performance. Theoretical calculations are performed on the test system. Also, carbon life cycle analysis will be performed to establish the sustainability of the proposed system.