Extensive geothermal heat use in cities energetic and economic comparison of options for thermal regeneration of the ground

Geothermal energy as a heat source for heat pumps is increasingly unused in the city of Zürich. However, as indicated by other authors, the renewable potential for shallow geothermal heat use is limited due to the fact that natural regeneration in the absence of ground water flow is slow. Constant heat extractions from dense geothermal heat pump installations continuously cool down the affected ground layer.. In this case boreholes have to be drilled deeper or regenerated in order to avoid freezing around the borehole. The aim of this simulation study is to find the most economic geothermal heat pump concept, which does not lead to borehole freezing after 50 years of operation in areas with dense installations (an exemplary mean geothermal heat extraction of 35kWh/m2/a was supposed for this this study). Therefor a multi-family house with a standard ground source heat pump was simulated for a period of 50 years in Polysun. Various solar concepts, an air heat exchanger concept, a geo cooling concept and also a system without regeneration were added to the system. These concepts were compared under the assumption that all neighboring installations are using an equivalent regeneration strategy as the simulated system For the different system concepts, highly variable total borehole length were needed to avoid freezing, reaching from 1020m for a system with a large glazed collector field to 2160m for the un-regenerated case. The heat cost of the analyzed system concepts was in the range of 21- 27 Rp/kWh. The most cost-effective system concepts according to this analysis are the air heat exchanger or unglazed collectors. Increasing the total borehole meters was not only one of the most expensive options, but also the least sustainable, since the continuation of ground tem-perature decrease after 50 years was more pronounced with this option than for any other option

Decentralized DHW production from exhaust air in the bathroom prewall

In urban multifamily houses, decentralized DHW systems using gas or electric boilers are still widely used. Their replacement with renewable energy sources is difficult and generally needs centralized DHW systems with a circulation system that ensures comfort and hygiene at the price of elevated heat losses. A consortium of three academic and one industry partner developed a decentralized DHW system, which uses the residual heat from the exhaust air of a controlled ventilation unit as energy source for a micro heat pump. The entire system, including ventilation unit, heat pump, and storage tank fits into the bathroom prewall and produces hot water for one apartment. This contribution gives an overview of the system and focusses on the development of the flat storage tank that fits into the prewall space of less than 30 cm width

Adsorber heat exchanger using Al-fumarate beads for heat-pump application – a transport study

International audienceMetal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs), thanks to their type V water adsorption isotherms (“S-Shape”) and large water capacities, are considered as potential breakthrough adsorbents for heat-pump applications. In particular, Al(OH)-fumarate could enable efficient regeneration at a lower temperature than silica-gel which would allow us to address the conversion of waste heat at low temperature such as found in data centers. Despite its greater adsorption capacity features, heat and mass transport limitations could jeopardize the potential performance of Al(OH)-fumarate. Heat and mass transport depend on the size of the bodies (mm range), their packing and on the pore structures, i.e. macro–mesopore volumes and sizes. This paper describes the cost-efficient and scalable synthesis and shaping processes of Al(OH)-fumarate beads of various sizes appropriate for use in water Adsorption Heat-Pumps (AHPs). The objective was to study transport limitations (i.e. mass and heat) in practical e beads which meet mechanical stability requirements. Dynamic data at the grain scale was obtained by the Large Temperature Jump method while dynamic data at the adsorber scale was obtained on a heat exchanger filled with more than 1 kg of Al(OH)-fumarate beads. Whereas the binder content had little impact on mass and heat transfer in this study, we found that Knudsen diffusion in mesopores of the grain may be the main limiting factor at the grain scale. At the adsorber scale, heat-transfer within the bed packing as well as to the heat exchanger is likely responsible for the slow adsorption and desorption kinetics which have been observed for very low desorption temperature. Finally, the dynamic aspects of the observed water adsorption isotherm shift with temperature are discussed in light of reported reversible structure modification upon temperature triggered water adsorption–desorption