Abstract—A domestic refrigerator designed to work with R-134a was used as a test unit to asses the possibility of using hydrocarbons and their blends as refrigerants. Pure butane, isobutene and mixture of propane, butane and isobutene were used as refrigerants. The performance of the refrigerator using hydrocarbons as refrigerants was investigated and compared with the performance of refrigerator when R-134a was used as refrigerant. The effect of condenser temperature and evaporator temperature on COP, refrigerating effect, condenser duty, work of compression and heat rejection ratio were investigated. The energy consumption of the refrigerator during experiment with hydrocarbons and R-134a was measured. The results show that the compressor consumed 3% and 2% less energy than that of HFC-134a at 28°C ambient temperature when iso-butane and butane was used as refrigerants respectively. The energy consumption and COP of hydrocarbons and their blends shows that hydrocarbon can be used as refrigerant in the domestic refrigerator. The COP and other result obtained in this experiment show a positive indication of using HC as refrigerants in domestic refrigerator. Keywords—Hydrocarbons, Butane, Iso-butane, Heat rejection ratio, Energy consumption. I. INTRODUCTION ATURAL ice was harvested, distributed and used in both commercial and home applications in the mid-1800s to refrigerate food. The idea that cold could be produced by the forced evaporation of a volatile liquid under reduced pressure had been previously pursued by Willam Cullen in the eighteenth century. These same volatile liquids could be condensed from a vapor state by application of cooling and compression was also known by the 1800s. Combining these two ideas led to the development of what would ultimately become the dominant means of cooling, the vapor compression refrigerating system. Since the invention of the Manuscript received June 25, 2007. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysia to carry out this research project. The project was funded under the project IRPA No: 03-02-03-1011. M.A.Sattar, is with the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (corresponding author phone: 0060-162-481723; fax: +60379675317; e-mail: sattar106@ yahoo.com). R. Saidur is with the Departent of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (e-mail: saidur@um.edu.my). H.H. Masjuki is with the Departent of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (e-mail: masjuki@um.edu.my). vapor compression refrigeration system in the middle of the 18 th century and its commercial application at the end of the 18 th century, the application of refrigeration has entered many fields. The application includes the preservation of food and medicine, air-conditioning for comfort and industrial processing (Donald and Nagengast, 1994). Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochloro- fluorocarbons (HCFCs) have many suitable properties, for example, nonflammability, low toxicity and material compatibility that have led to their common widespread use by both consumers and industries around the world, especially as refrigerants in air conditioning and refrigerating systems. Results from many researches show that this ozone layer is being depleted. The general consensus for the cause of this event is that free chlorine radicals remove ozone from the atmosphere, and later, chlorine atoms continue to convert more ozone to oxygen. The presence of chlorine in the stratosphere is the result of the migration of chlorine containing chemicals. The chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochloro-fluorocarbons (HCFCs) are a large class of chemicals that behave in this manner. (Radermacher and Kim, 1996, Akash and Said, 2003). Since the discovery of the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer caused mainly by CFC and HCFC and as a result of the 1992 United Nations Environment Program meeting, the phase out of CFC-11 and CFC-12, used mainly in conventional refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, was expected by 1996 (Lee and Su, 2002). The thermo physical properties of HFC-134a are very similar to those of CFC-12 and are also non-toxic environmentally safe refrigerant; the American Household Appliances Manufacturers have recommended HFC-134a as a potential replacement for CFC-12 in domestic refrigerators. However, while the ozone depletion potentials (ODPs) of HFC-134a relative to CFC-11 are very low (<5.10 -4 ), the global warming potentials (GWPs) are extremely high (GWP 1300) and also expensive. For this reason, the production and use of HFC- 134a will be terminated in the near future (Tashtoush et al., 2002, Sekhar et al., 2005, Somchai and Nares, 2005). Scientist and researcher are searching the environment benign refrigerant for the domestic refrigerator and freezer. Hydrocarbon especially propane, butane and isobutene are proposed as an environment benign refrigerant. Hydrocarbons are free from ozone depletion potential and have negligible global warming potential. Lee and Su (2002) conducted an Performance Investigation of Domestic Refrigerator Using Pure Hydrocarbons and Blends of Hydrocarbons as Refrigerants M. A. Sattar, R. Saidur, and H. H. Masjuki N World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 5 2007 223