Imagine a refrigerator that doesn't use any harmful gases or liquids, but instead uses special solid materials that get cold when you squeeze them. It works like a sponge that releases heat when pressed and absorbs it when released. This replaces the chemical coolants that currently leak into the atmosphere and damage the planet.
Global refrigeration systems produce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the entire EU's emissions. Current systems rely on harmful refrigerants and critical raw materials that are expensive and environmentally damaging.
A design for the first operative barocaloric refrigerator, including a regenerative cooling device, densified composite ceramics, and pressure fluid circuits.
If you are a manufacturer dealing with strict regulations on harmful refrigerant gases — this project developed a barocaloric solid-state system that avoids dangerous chemicals and rare-earth elements. It targets a cooling power of 100 W at room temperature.
If you are a hardware provider dealing with energy inefficiency in server cooling — this project developed a regenerative cooling device with a target COP between 4 and 6. This could significantly lower the electricity costs of maintaining room-temperature environments.
If you are a ceramics producer dealing with the need for functional smart materials — this project developed densified composite ceramics using earth-abundant iron. This allows for the production of scalable, non-toxic cooling components.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not provided, but the project focuses on using cheap, abundant, and non-toxic elements like iron to optimize costs.
The project is working toward industrial scale by shaping materials into densified objects of centimetric sizes and designing a refrigerator yielding 100 W of cooling power.
Based on available project data, there is no specific mention of patents or licensing terms, as the project is currently in the development phase.
It replaces traditional gas-based cycles with a regenerative cooling device consisting of a barocaloric regenerator and thermal/pressure fluid circuits.
The project period runs from 2024-10-01 to 2028-09-30, suggesting that a functional prototype will be developed by late 2028.
The consortium is heavily research-driven with 6 universities and 1 research center (CNRS), but it includes a critical industrial link with Total Energies OneTech. With a 22% industry ratio and partners across 4 countries (FR, ES, SI, UK), the project balances deep academic expertise in synthetic chemistry and ceramics with industrial application needs.
Contact CNRS (France) regarding the FROSTBIT project
Contact us to track the development of this barocaloric prototype for your cooling roadmap.
