There are different ways to transfer the refrigeration capacity from the absorption plant to the process or equipment to be cooled.


  1. Direct evaporation: The ammonia of the absorption plant leaving the subcooler is collected in a vessel and pumped to the different evaporators (e.g. air coolers).
  2. Brine cooling: The evaporator of the absorption plant is a heat exchanger where a cooling brine is pumped through and cooled down.
  3. Cascade ammonia cooling: The ammonia from a compressor refrigeration plant can not be mixed with the ammonia of an absorption plant. Both systems can be installed in parallel using an evaporator-condenser heat exchanger, also called cascade. In this heat exchanger, on the side of the absorption plant the ammonia evaporates while on the compressor side the ammonia condensates. The absorption plant is doing the job of a compressor with the condenser but returns the condensate at a low temperature.