Three concepts for high efficient, high economic ammonia heat pumps for industrial applications up to 95°C [34]

In industrial companies large amounts of waste heat is often generated from a wide variety of processes which, due to their low temperature level, cannot be used any further and have to be "disposed of" with additional expenditure. Through the application of high efficient industrial heat pumps, the temperature level of industrial waste heat can be raised to a higher and thus usable level.
Despite the enormous potential, heat pumps are hardly used in industry. The main reasons are the limited knowledge about potentials and applications as well as technical barriers and none suitable components/systems. Heat pumps in industry are usually "tailor-made" plants and therefore expensive. The often-required (very) short amortization times is difficult to achieve generally.
From a technical point of view, the demand for heat pumps is particularly important for higher operating temperature levels (95°C), with rather small spreads (15-25 K). In principle, some components are available today to reach a temperature level of up to 95°C also in the megawatt range. However, there are serious obstacles especially in respect to the lubrication system and oil management, the ability of reliable components and the technology, that preclude these components from application.
The market-advertised heat pumps of manufacturers often do not take into account the specific conditions of the industrial plants and industries. The required capacities and/or temperature levels are not available or only reached under certain preconditions, leading to high invest and operational costs.
This presentation shows some specific requirements of industrial plants from different industries and the best-related concepts (circuit design, component design, control, etc.). Three principal circuit concepts (AddOn, Cascade and StandAnlone) are discussed with the focus on standardization of the system design as well as on scalability and multiplication of the concept across the industries in Europa.