Benefits of Thermo-chemical Networks

Benefits of Thermo-chemical Ne tworksApplication cases and economic benefits of thermo-chemical engagementsABSTRACTThermo-chemical likely of absorption and desorption has high likely to capture and use residual erupt at low temperature ranges. callable to loss-free transport and re gear up of the captured goose egg potential, long- hold transport and medium-term stock vortex interesting potentials to utilize residual heat. Therefore, the aim of the EU H2020 project H-DisNet is to split up meshworks similar to district estrus networks using thermo-chemical fluids (TCF) kind of of water. The paper ordain give an introduction to the engineering that rear provide estrus, engine cooling system and wrying go in one network and discuss its economics.First, use cases describe shining application scenarios. Requirements atomic number 18 derived from the use cases, first, for the novel technology and, second, the application situations, i.e. the buildings or industrial processes, in which the services be applied. This includes temperature and humidity requirements as puff up as further conditions of a useful application. Depending on the services requirements, features of the thermo-chemical technology, such(prenominal) as the use TCF, impart be determined so that the thermo-chemical technology is able to satisfy the service requirements. Operation modes result be presented the show, how in specific use cases the technology would work. An outline of the operation of a network allow for be presented.Second, for an economic assessment, conventional existing resolvents for the services, for which thermo-chemical technology is proposed, will be described. These conventional technologies form the background for an economic comparison. The aim of the economic comparison is to show the benefits of the thermo-chemical technology for the key stakeholders affect in such a network. The aim is to provide evidence that the thermo-chemical network tech nology is marketable. unveilingNowadays, an forever increasing attention has been placed on reducing the elan vital consumption apply for heating, cooling and drying with a resulting abatement in the carbon dioxide production. As a matter of fact, a massive quantity of fossil fuel is used as primary nix source for air-conditioning and industrial operations causing a constant conversion to C02 that is swiftly acclivitous and expediting the global climate change. It has been calculated that the animation depleted for heating and cooling of buildings (residential or in the service sector) and industrial processes accounts for 50% of the EUs annual faculty consumption 1. This is roughlyly due to the fact that al some half of the EUs buildings are old and lack in faculty, re raw(a)able energy is narrowly used in these sectors and a huge amount of heat produced by industrial processes is dissipated into the atmosphere or into water, missing the fortune for its reco very.Throug h the victimisation of an optimized, more efficient and less greet-consuming use of the energy sources, it will be possible to achieve a decrease in the energy imports, bearing a diminution in the cost and, at the same time, an environmental benefit, delineated by a decrement in the emission of greenhouse gases. regularise heating is one of the possible technologies in the direction of this purpose because it outstandingly concurs to a better use of the energy sources, particularly the renewable energies. Nevertheless, this technology presents several drawbacks, such as the temperature required that so-and-so preclude the utilization of some technologies that work with lower temperatures, the remarkable heat losses occurring during the conveyancing in pipelines and the need for integration with memory systems in pasture to obtain the match betwixt the demand and the sources in time and location.Therefore, this paper will be addressed to the description of Intelligent Hyb rid Thermo-Chemical dominion Networks, an modern type of district network based on the employment of thermo-chemical fluids (TCFs) instead of water as energy warelodging medium. Through this technology it will be feasible to obtain an energy-efficient forgeation of the resources, particularly the unemployed inferior industrial heat and thermal renewable, leading to the achievement of a sustainable energy system. Moreover, by the usage of liquid desiccant as TCF in order to obtain a loss-free long-distance transport and a medium-term storage it will be possible to obtain significant cost reductions, fashioning this technology absolutely interesting for citizens, workers and industry.The paper starts in Section 2 with a description of the liquid desiccant technology in order to understand the ability of this system for heating and cooling applications. Section 3 reports the characteristics and the main advantages arising from the integration of the TCF with the district network. Section 4 detects the possible business sector models interest in the utilization of the Hybrid District Network. The last two section of the paper address the subject from an economic acme of view, identifying the cost factors for this kind of system (Section 5) and the associated economic savings related to the dissimilar applications (Section 6). fluid DESICCANT TECHNOLOGYThe current research on Hybrid District Networks is related to the requirement of obtaining a district network which allows the connection with consumers at a greater distance, such as for the heating and cooling of residential and service buildings that are usually located far from industrial plants.In fact, the temperature level of waste heat and renewable energy is generally as well low, bringing to high volumes that are responsible for increased energy leaks and higher costs, related to a higher expense for the pipelines. In this direction, it has to be seen the always growing interest in absorption an d reversible thermo-chemical processes for district heating.The unopen district network system is a well-developed technology that employs absorption heat pumps and chillers to supply heating and cooling for residential and service buildings (REPETITION). However, this technology does non allow to profit from industrial waste energy or renewable energy that are located in a remote position respect to the service, besides not allowing a time shift between the source and the demand side.For this reason, an innovative open system district heating system, based on the employment of liquid desiccant as the thermo-chemical conveyer belt of energy, which allows to split the variation and absorption side and to locate them in varied places, is under study.Desiccant-based TCFs have the potential to provide simultaneous and multiple on-the-spot(prenominal) functions and services, such as heating, cooling, de/re-humidification, energy storage and energy transport. Liquid desiccants pink the hygroscopic properties of a salt (MgCl2, CaCl2, LiBr, LiCl etc.) solution for the removal of the wet from the close outdoor air, until the attainment of a situation of sense of balance of its vaporisation drag with that of the incoming air. For this reason, the dehumidification capacity of the desiccant can be evaluated through its equilibrium vapour pressure.For example, an industrial process waste-heat goaded air-conditioning system is shown in Fig.X in a counter-flow packed bed configuration.FIG.The strong TCF-solution (i.e. TCF-rich relative to water), typically a desiccant, is sprayed at the top of the absorber, ambient air (or gas) enters the absorber at the bottom and transfers its moisture to the TCF. As some heat is liberated, the TCF solution temperature rises and hence the solution vapour pressure. The heat exchange process typically takes place over a packed bed/spray tower or gravity driven wetted wall column designed with the minimum pressure drop (Jain et al. , 2007) with output humidity controlled by the temperature and concentration of the TCF solution. The dehumidified air exits at the top of the absorber and can be used to meet plant specific energy demands. The agile but now diluted TCF solution leaves the bottom of the absorber and it is handle for regeneration. The regeneration process has typically the same configuration as the absorber and it is driven by the incoming industrial process waste heat gas watercourse the now diluted TCF is sprayed over this stream and water in the TCF solution evaporates, reducing the gas temperature and increasing its humidity. The now strong TCF solution is pumped back to the absorber to restart the air-conditioning process.Industrial manufacturing plants typically have multiple demands for energy in their locality the previously described system can exploit the low-grade process waste heat to supplement (or even replace) local demands (1) Industrial Drying, because the ambient air (or other gases) can be arid and then cooled for utilisation elsewhere on site (2) Heating and/or Humidification, since the ambient air is heated as it passes through the absorber, which yields a lukewarm and more humid gas stream that can be used locally with corresponding savings in energy demands (3) Cooling, by utilising the dry air as the an input into an evaporative cooling system, an additional re-humidification breaker point can be used to produce a cooling arrange and thus to supplement local air-conditioning loads and (4) Loss-Free Energy Storage, since through the change of heat to TCF potential is possible to transport and store heat and TCF potential into the hybrid district network with almost total lack of energy loss. As there is significant potential for thermal energy storage thus meeting/offsetting hourly, daily and seasonal energy supply/demand.THERMO-CHEMICAL web TECHNOLOGYThe aim of a Hybrid Thermo-Chemical District Network is to stretch the use of district networ ks through the realization of a multifunctional optimized system, able to concurrently fulfill heating, cooling and drying operations and also to be integrated with already existing thermal district networks, leading to the achievement of a more sustainable process.Through the recovery of industrial waste heat and the evolution of low temperature energy sources (e.g. renewables, such as solar thermal or geothermal) is possible to obtain via the regeneration process a TCF with high energy in the state of TCF-concentrate that is used as a thermo-chemical energy storage medium. This is one of the peculiar advantages of the innovative district network because the thermo-chemical energy storage in the concentrate liquid desiccant is roughly losses, offering the opportunity to enhance the storage term between hours and days, which enables to fill the mismatch in the schedule between available heat and demand, to heighten the transport distance of the heat, that can be long up to 50 km X with pipelines characterised by a reduced or absent insulation with a resulting reduction in costs.This feature, together with the increased energy density of the TCF-concentrated (higher than the water, employed in the conventional district heating system) will lead to the obtaining of a very promising system from an economic point of view. Moreover, the characteristics of transport and cheapness of this fashionable technology enable to serve also the regions with lower heat demand.another(prenominal) advantage is that the salts used in the solution as liquid desiccants in an open district network system (MgCl2, MgSO4, CaCl2, LiBr, LiCl, Ca(NO3)2, TEG) are in most of the cases cheap and, for the characteristics of open system, they have to be as much as possible non-toxic and environmental harmless. Particularly, the MgCl2 (produced as by-product from sea-water processing) and the CaCl2 (produced from industrial processes) result to be extremely cheap and hence economically viabl e.The environmental benefit refer by the reduction in the primary energy consumption and in the CO2 production is another key property of this system. Furthermore, the simpler pipeline infrastructure, which is characterised by the utilization of recyclable plastic pipes without any anti-frost protection, will allow to importantly reduce the exploitation of raw materials.Lastly, the liquid desiccants present hygiene properties that can ensure humidity control of the process air, leading to an amelioration of the interior(prenominal) comfort and forestalling the maturation of mould fungus.ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF crisscross DISTRICT NETWORKSThe attainment of benefits in terms of financial, technological and environmental features are the main conditions for the spread of the thermo-chemical district network. The aim is to achieve profitability and efficiency for both suppliers and consumers, converting costs into revenues.The implementation of this strategy could lead several benef its to different classes (1) Citizens could profit from a monthly and yearly cost reduction for energy-effective heating and cooling calculated to be ranging from 1500-2000 to 300-500 X, simultaneously achieving a better indoor comfort, ensured by the humidity control of the thermo-chemical system. Moreover, this could lead to a greater stabilization of the energy costs, because the network is mostly based on the usage of renewable energies, which cost is more predictable respect to fossil fuels, characterised by a highly volatile price. (2) Industry could also be enormously interested in the employment of district thermo-chemical networks to extent of reducing its energy costs by 4-10% with investments characterised by a payback period lower than 5 years X and of obtaining a sustainable process, able to decrease its energy consumption. Concurrently, this technology could lead to a more environmental harmless process with reductions in the CO2 and air pollution, contributing to a significant improvement in the related health problems.In order to estimate the economic potential of the technology an analysis based on the study of business cases involved on the employment of waste heat has been taken as the point of reference x. The main four identified sectors are (1) Built purlieu transaction To Customer (B2C) for this business model, the customer base are new buildings and offices together with the renewal of utility buildings (mostly property of the municipalities), apartments (usually possessed by housing corporations) and offices. Another possibility is the utilization of TCFs into an already existing hybrid network in order to improve its energy efficiency. Municipalities and housing corporations have a fundamental role in this business model because in most of the cases they have a previously established relationship with the formerly delimitate customers. To extent of achieving the success of the project is indispensable that both of the parts, pub lic companionship and individuals, have an interest in saving energy and this is ensured by an equal split of the profit between the parts. (2) Built Environment Business To Business (B2B)