Theoretical Analysis of a Biomass-Driven Single-Effect Absorption Heat Pump for Heating and Cooling Purposes

Abstract

Renewable energy exploitation in the building sector can lead to significant energy savings and carbon dioxide emission avoidance. The objective of this study is the detailed investigation of a biomass-driven absorption heat pump for heating and cooling. The heat pump is practically a single-effect absorption chiller operating with the Lithium-bromide/water solution and it has been properly modified for heating production during the winter. This system is a novel one and its combination with a biomass boiler was examined for the first time, especially for covering both heating and cooling needs. For the present study, a typical building in Athens, Greece, with a 400 m2 floor area is selected to be coupled with the suggested heating/cooling configuration. The analysis was conducted by using TRNSYS software for the estimation of the building’s thermal loads and with the Engineering Equation Solver for determining the heat pump behavior. According to the results, the yearly biomass consumption is found to be 3.76 tons covering a heating demand of 9136 kWh and cooling demand of 8168 kWh. The seasonal energy cooling performance was found to be 0.751, while the seasonal energy heating performance was at 1.307. Moreover, the proposed configuration was found to have economic and environmental benefits compared to conventional units with an oil boiler and heat pump for cooling. Specifically, the present system leads to 10.8% lower operational costs and 4.8% lower primary energy demand, while there are significant amounts of CO2 avoidance.

Keywords

• biomass
• heating
• cooling
• thermal loads
• renewable energy
• absorption heat pump