$26M grant fuels University of Hawai‘i research on climate-friendly cooling

A team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is tackling an important cause of human-made climate change – common refrigerants used for everything from cooling homes and businesses to freezing and preserving food and medicine.

The National Science Foundation announced on Aug. 21 that the University of Hawai‘i and five other universities have been awarded $26 million to establish a fourth generation National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center to create sustainable refrigerant technology.

The majority of refrigerants, called hydrofluorocarbons, are used in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems. HVACR systems account for almost 10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions because of leaks that release hydrofluorocarbons into the atmosphere and the significant amount of energy it takes to operate them.

The new National Science Foundation Gen-4 Engineering Research Center Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub, or ERC EARTH, aims to create a transformative “sustainable refrigerant lifecycle” by lowering hydrofluorocarbon emissions; creating safe, property-balanced replacement refrigerants; and increasing the energy efficiency of HVACR systems.

“Understanding the underlying chemistry of new refrigerants in the atmosphere is central to defining the impact onto our climate and ultimately the rise of sea levels,” said University of Hawai‘i project lead, professor Ralf I. Kaiser of the College of Natural Sciences Department of Chemistry. “We will be developing a tightly integrated collaborative network to predict for the first time the atmospheric impact of potential new refrigerants before they are incorporated into HVACR systems. This is just one aspect of UHʻs role in this important project.”

Along with the University of Hawai‘i, ERC EARTH includes teams from University of Notre Dame, Lehigh University, University of South Dakota, University of Maryland and project lead University of Kansas. The group was selected from among hundreds of other proposed centers following a highly competitive two-year review process. The National Science Foundation currently supports just 15 ERCs in advanced manufacturing, energy and environment, health and infrastructure.

National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said ERCs ask big questions in order to catalyze solutions with far reaching impacts.

“NSF Engineering Research Centers are powerhouses of discovery and innovation, bringing America’s great engineering minds to bear on our toughest challenges,” said Panchanathan.

Kaiser believes it is fitting that the University of Hawai‘i team, which includes four professors in addition to Kaiser himself is playing an important role in the project.

“Hawaiʻi is increasingly vulnerable to global warming and its impacts, including more frequent and severe weather extremes and sea level rise,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser and Department of Chemistry professor Rui Sun’s groups will study the atmospheric chemistry of gas phase refrigerants and their interaction with atmospheric ice particles. Kaiser’s group will employ crossed molecular beams and acoustic levitators to study the fate of refrigerants in the atmosphere. The efforts are complimented by Sun’s computer simulations with artificial intelligence to understand the reaction at the atomistic detail.

“By following this approach, we will avoid the mistakes done in the 1970s, when chlorofluorocarbons, an otherwise excellent refrigerant, resulted in catastrophic ozone depletion,” Sun said.

Department of Atmospheric Sciences professor Christina Karamperidou will integrate the experimental and computational data into climate models to study the impacts of hydrofluorocarbons, their replacement compounds, and novel cooling technologies and practices on climate and atmospheric circulation.

“As temperatures continue to rise and with them the frequency and intensity of heat waves, so does the need for refrigeration and air conditioning,” said Karamperidou.

Department of History professor Kieko Matteson will place the modern demand for cooling and its social, environmental, and economic impacts into historical context.

As part of the center, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa will also establish a new interdisciplinary graduate program in atmospheric chemistry (College of Natural Sciences and the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology) to train future leaders in chemistry, atmospheric science and environmental science.

Jennifer Pagala Barnett will manage the Diversity and Culture of Inclusion for the ERC, spearheading initiatives to support and advance EARTH’s diversity goals for students, faculty and staff. A major focus is to recruit and increase participation of Indigenous and tribal communities.

ERC EARTH will work with industry to develop workforce goals that will involve community colleges to address workforce gaps.

The initial $26-million award is eligible for renewal for five additional years until 2034.