Design and Large Temperature Jump Testing of a Modular Finned-Tube Carbon–Ammonia Adsorption Generator for Gas-Fired Heat Pumps

Steven Metcalf, Ángeles Rivero-Pacho and Robert Critoph
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Steven Metcalf: School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Ángeles Rivero-Pacho: School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Robert Critoph: School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Gas-fired heat pumps are a potential replacement for condensing boilers, utilizing fossil-fuel resources more efficiently and reducing the amount of biogas or hydrogen required in sustainable gas grids. However, their adoption has been limited due to their large size and high capital cost, resulting in long payback times. For adsorption-based heat pumps, the major development challenge is to maximize the rate of heat transfer to the adsorbent, whilst minimizing the thermal mass. This work develops a modular finned-tube carbon–ammonia adsorption generator that incorporates the adsorbent in highly compacted 3-mm layers between aluminum fins. Manufacturing techniques that are amenable to low cost and high-volume production were developed. The module was tested using the large temperature jump (LTJ) method and achieved a time constant for adsorption and desorption of 50 s. The computational model predicted that if incorporated into two adsorption generators of 6 L volume each, they could be used to construct a gas-fired heat pump with a 10 kW heat output and a gas utilization efficiency (GUE, the ratio of useful heat output to higher calorific value of gas used) of 1.2.

Keywords: adsorption; heat pump; active carbon; ammonia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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