Potential of Energy Saving of Propane Heat Pump as replacement of gas boilers with low and high temperature emitters

Abstract

This work deals with the analysis of the energy performance and the environmental impact of a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system based on an innovative Air-to-Water electrical Heat Pump (AWHP) using propane (R290) as the refrigerant. A building of the University of Bologna located in Forlì (North of Italy) is considered for replacing a condensing gas boiler and a conventional chiller with an AWHP using R290. To evaluate the efficiency of the existing heating system and the potential savings linked to the adoption of the propane AWHP, the building energy model was created and calibrated by collecting monthly thermal and electrical consumptions as a function of the actual climate data. In this paper, the main features of the R290-based AWHP are described in detail by emphasising the device performance as a function of the operating conditions (i.e., air and water temperature and speed of the scroll compressor). A series of scenarios have been studied to evaluate the energy performance of the propane AWHP with respect to the reference scenario under various operating conditions. The results show that while the total primary energy demand increases adopting the propane AWHP with respect to the case of a gas boiler, the non-renewable primary energy fraction decreases significantly, with a dramatic increase in the renewable quote. From an economic point of view, lower annual costs are obtained by adopting a propane AWHP coupled to fan coils, mainly when the electrical heat pump is used in a thermally insulated building in which a photovoltaic system is installed.