Development and Testing of Novel Applications for Adsorption Heat Pumps and Chillers

Abstract

This work aims at the development and the experimental characterization of new applications for adsorption heat pumps and chillers driven by industrial waste heat or renewable sources that can provide heating and/or cooling. Adsorption technologies offer the advantage of providing heating and cooling from low temperature sources below 100 °C without using refrigerant with high Global Warming Potential and with very low electricity consumption. Therefore, the technology enables the use of large untapped heat sources, increasing the energy efficiency of the heating and cooling sector with very limited impact on the environment. Several applications were investigated numerically for Switzerland using a simplified model of an adsorption heat pump. Four scenarios were identified as interesting: (1) the valorization of low-grade industrial waste heat in district heating networks, (2) energy efficiency improvement of district heating substations, (3) an autonomous adsorption heat pump with a wood pellets burner and (4) cooling applications. These scenarios were experimentally validated with a laboratory test of a commercial silica gel/water machine. Results show that there is a gap of up to 40% between the prediction of the simplified model and the experimental results. Therefore, there is huge potential to improve the performances of this commercial unit for these applications.