Development and economic/environmental benefits of a gas-fired absorption heat pump for domestic heating

Currently, the shift towards completely renewable and electrified space heating appears to be a necessary step in effectively mitigating climate change. However, this will require a long transition period to upgrade electricity generation and distribution capacity, as well as to renovate building envelopes and systems. Gas Heat Pumps (GHP) represent the most suitable option to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in building heated by gas boilers, thanks to their ability to efficiently deliver high supply water temperatures without reducing the heating capacity. In this work, a single effect ammonia-water GHP for space heating and domestic hot water production is described. The GHP development was driven by three main goals: 1. Wide use of commercially available components, as stainless-steel plate heat exchangers, to boost the GHP industrialization. 2. Performance improvement in the whole wide range of operating conditions, thanks to the control of the flow rate of liquid solution. 3. Reduction of dimensions and cost by introducing a new design for some components of the GHP’s generator. The GHP's ability to deliver high-temperature water without reducing the available heat output (in this case, 10 kW, but easily scalable) makes it suitable for replacing boilers in existing buildings with high-temperature heat distribution (radiators), reducing energy consumption by at least 30% with respect of a gas boiler. The achievable reduction in consumption and emissions is demonstrated through the calculation of yearly fuel consumption in specific case studies Chinese and international potential applications. These calculations relay on laboratory data measured in an accredited laboratory and are based on the BIN method, which includes specific climate data and customized heating curves.