Plenary Speakers Announced for IIR Conference on Thermophysical Properties and Transfer Processes of Refrigerants

The Organizing Committee of the 7th IIR Conference on Thermophysical Properties and Transfer Processes of Refrigerants is excited to announce the plenary speakers for the conference, June 15-18, 2025, at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md.

The four plenary speakers are international experts on the thermophysical properties and transfer processes of refrigerants and will share their insights about the path forward toward adopting lower-GWP refrigerants, as the global community works to phase down HFC refrigerants that contribute to climate change. The speakers are:

Mark O. McLinden, Ph.D., is a research chemical engineer for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Among his accomplishments, he developed a nist-equation of state for refrigerant mixtures, carried out analytical studies on the optimum thermodynamic characteristics of refrigerants, and led research on the properties of alternatives to ozone-depleting CFC and HCFC refrigerants. McLinden will speak about "Thermodynamics of Refrigerants: Or, Why Did We Ever Go With the F-gases?" He’ll discuss the evolution of refrigerants and the ever-changing constraints and regulations that have driven the need to consider new refrigerant molecules, and in particular the “why” behind fluorine. What did fluorine bring to the party, and what are the trade-offs in moving away from fluorine?

Mark B. Shiflett, Ph.D., is a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas (KU). He is director of KU’s Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering, editor-in-chief of Journal of Ionic Liquids and previously served as a Technical Fellow for Dupont Central Research and Development. Shiflett is also director of the Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH), a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center focused on promoting a transformative sustainable refrigerant lifecycle to lower HFC emissions; create safe, property-balanced replacement refrigerants; and increase HVAC&R energy efficiency. In his presentation, he’ll share his vision for EARTH.

Vikrant Aute, Ph.D., is a research professor and director of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Energy Engineering, a leader in HVAC&R innovation. His research focuses on heat exchanger innovation, thermal storage, multidisciplinary optimization and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve HVAC&R systems. He spearheads the development of modeling and optimization platforms that transform the way HVAC&R components and systems are designed.

Claudio Zilio, Ph.D., is a Full Professor at Italy’s University of Padova, where he teaches applied thermodynamics and thermal systems. He is on the editorial board of ASHRAE's Science and Technology for the Built Environment, and is the author or co-author of more than 200 papers on numerous HVAC&R topics, including heat transfer, thermodynamics of inverse cycles, energy applications related to HVAC of buildings, refrigeration for foodstuff preservation and refrigerating equipment. Zilio will speak on "Chasing Low-GWP Refrigerants From a Heat Transfer Perspective." He will discuss the thermophysical properties of several low-GWP synthetic or natural fluids, and will share how the use of suitable performance evaluation criteria implemented for in-tube flow condensation and boiling can guide the optimal design of the condensers and evaporators for a given fluid and application.

Online registration for the conference is open until June 6: go.umd.edu/tptpr2025registration

Published May 8, 2025