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An industrial-scale seawater-based heat pump from MAN Energy Solutions is now supplying zero emissions heat for the district heating system operated by DIN Forsyning in Esbjerg, Denmark. The Mega heat pump will supply approximately 280,000 MWh of heat per year to local district heating networks. The system uses carbon dioxide as the heat exchange medium for the heat pump system, which has a 70 MW total heating capacity and operates in tandem with a 60 MW wood chip boiler that burns sustainably sourced wood chips and a 40 MW electric boiler that will be used for peak and backup load duties. It is the first of many larger industrial-scale heat pumps.
The Mega industrial heat pump utilizes renewable energy from regional wind farms and seawater from the North Sea as a heat source, delivering heat to 25,000 households and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 120,000 tons annually. The heat pump installation aligns with the city of Esbjerg’s aim to reach climate neutrality by 2030. The heat for the district heating system previously came from a coal-fired facility that has now been decommissioned.
“This is a significant milestone that we have anticipated for a long time,” said Helle Damm-Henrichsen, the managing director of DIN Forsyning. “From now on, all our customers in Varde and Esbjerg will benefit from district heating directly sourced fron the North Sea. This achievement is not only transformative for DIN Forsyning but also a step forward for the climate. While we may be in western Jutland, I believe it’s fair to call this a world premiere. The world’s largest CO2-based seawater heat pump is now producing heat.”
The MAN Energy heat pump system supports the intermittent power supplied by solar and wind installations so it can react quickly to variations in the amount of power available from the electrical grid. The system can be switched on and off multiple times each day to match the energy supply from the grid. DIN Forsyning leverages the pump’s nontoxic and environmentally safe carbon dioxide to ensure clean operation near the Wadden Sea, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
“I’m proud that our mega heat pump is now providing climate-neutral heat to the people of Esbjerg and Varde,” said Dr. Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions. “Esbjerg demonstrates how urban heating systems can be reshaped by harnessing renewable energy sources. Utilizing industrial-scale heat pumps to deliver sustainable heating is not just a technological achievement but a blueprint for other cities worldwide as they transition to greener energy systems.”
The MAN Energy Mega heat pump uses electricity to raise low-temperature thermal energy to usable levels efficiently. For every MWh of electrical energy consumed, about three MWh of thermal energy is generated. The heat pump for the DIN Forsyning district heating facility is equipped with two oil-free, hermetically sealed HOFIM compressors that use high-speed motors and active magnetic bearings to minimize maintenance requirements. These units and auxiliary systems will be integrated with remote monitoring, data analytics, and diagnostics.
Industrial Heat Pumps For Process Heat
The MAN Energy Mega heat pump is optimized for district heating, but heat pumps are also being used to supply the process heat that is essential to manufacturing of many products. Some heat is needed to cook food and pasteurize milk. Higher temperatures are needed to dry the paint on automobiles or make conventional lithium batteries. Today, about 95% of process heat comes from burning fossil fuels and accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions. A heat pump is capable of supplying heat for manufacturing up to 200º C (392º F), so why not use heat pumps to supply process heat for industrial and commercial applications?
That’s a great question. According to ETH Zurich, one of the world’s preeminent research institutions, in a conventional heat pump, the achievable temperature and temperature profiles are largely determined by the choice of refrigerant. All the heat pump components — from the evaporator and compressor to the condenser and expansion valve — are tailored to the characteristics of the refrigerant used. If a factory requires heat at different temperatures for multiple applications, this can only be achieved by using multiple heat pumps, each with a different refrigerant. This is both costly and inconvenient, which is why using a heat pump has made little headway in the industrial sector.
André Bardow, Professor of Energy and Process Systems Engineering at ETH Zurich, believes his team has come up with a better solution: “Instead of a single refrigerant, we use a blend. This allows a heat pump to use different heat sources and generate different temperature profiles.” The composition of the refrigerant blend can be varied to cater to different applications, which is a key benefit for companies. Instead of having to redesign the entire heat pump whenever they need a different temperature, they can simply modify the mixture, which is much simpler and cheaper.
The mixture itself consists of a traditional refrigerant and one further component. The temperature profile of the heat pump is dictated by the ratio of these two ingredients. “In principle, you can have any number of different profiles for industrial processes, as long as the temperatures don’t exceed 200 degrees. That’s the major advantage our technology offers,” Bardow says.
To identify suitable components for the refrigerant blend, the researchers developed a computer model that simulates the heat pump circuit with different variants of refrigerant mixture. “We extended the existing thermodynamic models for heat pumps by integrating the heat pump components as well as the composition of the mixture into the optimization process,” says Dennis Roskosch, senior scientist in the research group headed by André Bardow. The researchers’ model analyzed over 200 million known synthetic molecules to simulate a blend of two molecules that offers the most efficient heat pump performance.
Heat Pumps Gain Popularity
What is it about heat pumps that gets people excited? Quite simply, it is efficiency. A heat pump produces more heat per unit of energy than conventional heat sources. That translates into lower costs, which is what gets the attention of customers. Lots of people pay lip service to the idea of lowering carbon emissions, but showing someone how to cut their energy bills by 40% or more is what really gets their attention. Heat pump technology is maturing rapidly, offering people residential heat pumps that operate just fine in freezing temperatures — something they couldn’t do five years ago.
Companies like MAN Energy are now offering commercial customers industrial heat pumps like the one in Esbjerg, Denmark, that offer the advantages of heat pumps on a much larger scale. Over the next decade, more advanced heat pumps will fit the needs of more residential and commercial customers so we can burn fewer fossil fuels to heat our homes. Good news for the environment, but even better news for people who want more heat for less money.
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