Indirect Electrochemical Cooling: Model-Based Performance Analysis and Working Fluid Selection

The rising energy demand for cooling and heating requires efficient and sustainable technologies. Vapor-compression systems represent the state of the art but suffer from downscaling limits and maintenance needs. These disadvantages may be overcome by recently proposed electrochemical processes. However, their potential has not been explored systematically. This work quantifies the thermodynamic potential of an indirect electrochemical cooling process that replaces the vapor compressor of a standard refrigeration cycle with an electrochemical cell. An equilibrium-based process model evaluates the process performance of a working fluid, depending on its composition and temperatures in the process. After screening an extensive database for possible working fluids, an electrochemical cooling process is analyzed and optimized for the coefficient of performance (COP) to operate between two heat reservoirs at 20 °C (heat source) and 35 °C (heat sink). The majority of the investigated working fluids yield smaller or similar efficiencies than vapor-compression refrigeration, with COPs between 3.0 and 4.0. However, 35 promising working fluids that achieve higher efficiencies are identified with a COP up to 9.63, corresponding to 49% of Carnot. These working fluids are worthy of further investigation as their use in the electrochemical cooling process possibly outperforms standard vapor-compression refrigeration.