A Review of Safety Issues and Risk Assessment of Industrial Ammonia Refrigeration System

Abstract

Several industries like cold storage and ice plants heavily rely on ammonia (NH3) due to its low cost, excellent thermophysical traits, and zero effects on the ozone layer. Despite its widespread use as a refrigerant, the hazardous nature of ammonia remains a significant health concern. Since the industrial revolution, ammonia leakage has led to numerous major accidents, including fire and vapor cloud explosions. This paper reviews the safety issues and the current practices of risk assessment with regard to the industrial ammonia used in refrigeration systems. In addition, previous works related to the risk analysis of ammonia-based industries are reviewed. The majority of ammonia refrigeration system-related works applied the traditional static tools for risk analysis such as fault tree, event tree, and bow-tie that are not suitable to handle common causes of failures or conditional dependencies, which are absolutely significant aspects for a reliable safety assessment. Thus, it is vital to maintain and improve the safety levels of diverse industries using ammonia-based refrigeration systems. Various characteristics of ammonia-based refrigeration systems and their safety issues related to industry, present development, and future trends are comprehensively underscored. This review may act as a guide to develop a better understanding of dealing effectively with the hazards of ammonia-based refrigeration systems and risk assessment, thus enhancing the overall safety of humans and the environment.

Engineered Nanoporous Frameworks for Adsorption Cooling Applications

“…Due to these advantages, ammonia is often a preferred choice of refrigeration for cooling applications, especially absorption cooling . However, ammonia is highly toxic and a health hazard, so the safety risks associated with ammonia must be reassessed . Ammonia has been demonstrated to work effectively with sorbents such as carbons and zeolites in adsorption refrigeration applications, but the systems still have low performance due to generally low sorption capacities and cyclabilities of sorbents with ammonia.…”

“…200 However, ammonia is highly toxic and a health hazard, so the safety risks associated with ammonia must be reassessed. 201 Ammonia has been demonstrated to work effectively with sorbents such as carbons 202 and zeolites 203 in adsorption refrigeration applications, but the systems still have low performance due to generally low sorption capacities and cyclabilities of sorbents with ammonia. Using MOFs as a sorbent could be advantageous for such applications due to their high reversible ammonia adsorption capacities (Figure 29).…”

Liquid Ammonia as a Potential High Heat Sink Fuel via Catalytic Decomposition over Ru/CeO2–Al2O3 Coatings

“…Liquid ammonia is widely used in the fields of refrigeration, , air conditioning, and heat pumps , due to its excellent thermal properties. In addition, liquid ammonia has been regarded as a sustainable fuel − as the products after combustion are nitrogen gas and water, making it a carbon-free alternative to traditional hydrocarbon fuels.…”

Transition Metal Nanoparticle-Embedded Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanorods as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Selective Electroreduction of Nitric Oxide to Ammonia

“…NH 3 is an important global commodity that is the second most synthesized chemical in the world. NH 3 is widely used to produce fertilizers and feedstock to synthesize other derivative chemicals and as an industrial refrigerant. , Compared with liquid hydrogen (H 2 ), liquid NH 3 has several advantages. Liquid NH 3 has a higher energy density of 12.9 MJ L –1 , while liquid H 2 holds only 8.6 MJ L –1 .…”