Lithium Bromide—Water Solutions

Ruiter, J. P., Rev. Int. Froid = Int. J. Refrig., 13 (1990) 223-236 gives subroutines for computer calculations. See also ASHRAE Handbook—Fundamentals. 

Saturation and superheat tables and a diagram to 100 bar, 1600 K are given by Reynolds, W. C., Thermodynamic properties in S.I., Stanford Univ. publ., 1979 (173 

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The corresponding requirements for the absorbent are low saturation pressure compared to the refrigerant and low thermal capacity. Currently, no known substance fulfills all above requirements. The absorbent/refiigerant pairs most frequently encountered in the absorption chillers are water/ammonia and lithium bromide aqueous solution/water. The thermal characteristics of the water/ammonia mixture are shown in Fig. 5.86. 

A solution of 0.21 mol of butyllithium in about 140 ml of hexane (note 1) was cooled below -40°C and 90 ml of dry THF ivere run in. Subsequently a cold (< -20 C) solution of 0.25 nol of propyne in 20 ml of dry THF was added with cooling below -20°C and a white precipitate was formed. A solution of 0.10 mol of anhydrous (note 2) lithium bromide in 30 ml of THF was added, followed by 0.20 mol of freshly distilled cyclopentanone or cyclohexanone, all at -30°C. The precipitate had disappeared almost completely after 20 min. The cooling bath was then removed and when the temperature had reached 0°C, the mixture was hydrolyzed by addition of 100 ml of a solution of 20 g of NHi,Cl in water. After shaking and separation of the layers four extractions with diethyl ether were carried out. The extracts were dried over magnesium sulfate and the solvents removed by evaporation in a water--pump vacuum. Careful distillation of the remaining liquids afforded the following... 

The high solubility of the salt and resultant low water vapor pressure (58) of its aqueous solutions ate usehil ia absorption air conditioning (qv) systems. Lithium bromide absorption air conditioning technology efficiencies can surpass that of reciprocal technology usiag fluorochlorocarbon refrigerants. 

Absorber is a component where strong absorber solution is used to absorb the water vapor flashed in the evaporator. A solution pump sprays the lithium bromide over the absorber tube section. Cool water is passing through the tubes taking refrigeration load, heat of dilution, heat to cool condensed water, and sensible heat for solution coohng. 

The ammonia-water absorption system was extensively used until the fifties when the LiBr-water combination became popular. Figure 11-103 shows a simplified ammonia-water absorption cycle. The refrigerant is ammonia, and the absorbent is dilute aqueous solution of ammonia. Ammonia-water systems differ from water-lithium bromide equipment to accommodate major differences Water (here absorbent) is also volatile, so the regeneration of weak water solution to strong water solution is a fractional distillation. Different refrigerant (ammonia) causes different, much higher pressures about 1100-2100 kPa absolute in condenser. 

Environment Internal Untreated water at 42°F (6°C) External Lithium bromide solution at 40°F (4°C) and a partial pressure of 4 mm of mercury... 

A solution of 16jS-methyl-l la,17a,21-trihydroxy-5j5-pregnane-3,20-dione 21-acetate (52), 45 g, in dioxane (297 ml) is cooled to 15° and treated over a 5 min period with a solution of bromine (34.2 g) in dioxane (594 ml) precooled to 18°. After 2 min a solution of sodium acetate (60 g) in water (600 ml) is added and the mixture poured into ice water (8 liters). The precipitate is filtered off, washed to neutrality with water, and dried to give the crude dibromide (53), 55.7 g mp 125-126° (dec.) [aJu 58°. A mixture of dibromide (53), 55.5 g, lithium bromide (27.8 g), lithium carbonate (27.8 g) and DMF (1.11 liters) is refluxed under rapid stirring for 6 hr. The mixture is concentrated under vacuum to about 250 ml, poured into ice water (8 liters) containing hydrochloric acid (250 ml), and extracted with methylene dichloride. The extracts are washed to neutrality with water and evaporated to dryness. The residue is dissolved in acetone, evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure, redissolved in acetone and crystallized by the additon of hexane. This gives the dienone (54) 24.4 g, mp 236-239°. 

Lithium bromide is used in absorption, refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. A highly concentrated solution of the salt is an efficient absorbent of water vapor. The vapor pressure of such solution is very low. Other applications include the use of the salt as a swelling agent for wool, hair and other organic fibers as a catalyst in dehydrohalogenation reactions and as a sedative and hypnotic in medicine. 

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