Refrigerant Management by Using Iot Technology With the Co-benefit in Energy Saving at Malaysia Food and Cold Chain Sector

Abstract

Abstract Fluorocarbon gas consumption can contribute in direct and indirect impact to the environment such as ozone depletion and global warming due to fluorocarbon gas leakage and increase in electricity consumption, respectively. This study is focused on early detection of fluorocarbon gas leakage on refrigeration unit to determine scenario of fluorocarbon gas leakage management and estimate reduction potential of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and the co-benefits in energy saving. In this study, the Internet of Things (IoT) that utilized ultrasonic sensor detection system to detect early fluorocarbon gas leakage was installed at the chiller unit at two selected facilities, A and B. After installation, the data was monitored, and any gas leakage detected was countermeasure. Results from the data monitoring, reduction potential of GHG emission and energy saving co-benefits calculated by using formula adopted from the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association, (JRAIA). The monitoring results found that different response rate towards leakage detection between two facilities A and B (chiller 1 and chiller 2) contributes to 33.9%, 60.6% and 21.3% of fluorocarbon leakage. Installation of IoT based refrigerant leakage device proved that early detection and on time countermeasures successfully reduce 30 t-CO2e/yrs (facility A) and 460 t-CO2e/yrs (facility B). Thus, proper fluorocarbon gas management is important to reduce environmental impact of the fluorocarbon gases.