Discussion on lithium bromide chiller units and ethylene glycol chiller units
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A discussion on lithium bromide chiller units and ethylene glycol chiller units – which one is better, and what are their respective advantages? Everyone shares their opinions; personally, I think the ethylene glycol refrigeration units are better. First of all, ethylene glycol is cheaper than lithium bromide, resulting in lower costs. Diethylene glycol has no corrosive effect on pipelines.
You need to make a clear distinction between refrigerants and heat transfer fluids; lithium bromide is a refrigerant, while ethylene glycol is a heat transfer fluid – the two cannot be compared
Ethylene glycol can also be used in refrigeration units, where it absorbs heat upon vaporization, and then freon is used to lower the temperature.
It may depend on your process requirements. The lowest cooling temperature that lithium bromide units can achieve is 5–7 degrees Celsius, while ethylene glycol refrigerators can reach temperatures below zero or even lower. Additionally, lithium bromide units allow for the use of low-grade energy sources to save energy and reduce consumption
Friend upstairs, what do you mean by those words? “Lithium bromide units can save energy and reduce consumption by utilizing low-grade energy sources”
Low-grade energy sources such as waste heat and waste hot water can be used as the heat source for lithium bromide units, with relatively low power consumption; we use the 80–90% recycled circulating water generated as the heat source
I still don’t understand. Could you please explain it in detail, sir? Thank you
Reply to 7# arespx: As 2L said, “Lithium bromide is a refrigerant, while ethylene glycol is a coolant; the two cannot be compared.” In lithium bromide chillers, lithium bromide acts as the refrigerant, used to absorb heat from the medium to be cooled (which is what we call the coolant). In ethylene glycol chillers, it is R22 (not necessarily R22) that serves as the refrigerant, with ethylene glycol acting as the coolant – R22 is used to cool the ethylene glycol. In other words, ethylene glycol can also be used as a coolant in lithium bromide chillers, but the coolant in such systems does not drop below zero degrees, as their operating conditions do not allow for that level of temperature; therefore, using ethylene glycol as a coolant is not economical. So this comparison isn’t valid. You can only compare lithium bromide chillers with vapor-compression (R22) chillers, or saltwater (NaCl2) chillers with ethylene glycol chillers. Generally, systems that use ethylene glycol at low temperatures are referred to as saltwater chillers. After all this explanation, you should understand by now, right? :o ;P
It depends on the location of use; if there is excess reaction heat in the factory, lithium bromide units can be used, as they are energy-efficient and consume little electricity. If there is no excess heat, then it’s necessary to determine what method would be more cost-effective
Guys, I work in construction. We have a small cold storage here that is cooled by Freon-based air conditioners; it’s a cold storage at room temperature. There’s also one that uses ethylene glycol for cooling. In this case, which one is the refrigerant and which one is the coolant? Or is ethylene glycol used to cool Freon? Or is ethylene glycol a backup system when the cooling capacity of Freon is insufficient?
Both are good, so an ethylene glycol chiller unit using lithium bromide refrigeration is needed: lol