Open Access

ARTICLE

Thermo-Economic Performance of Geothermal Driven High-Temperature Flash Tank Vapor Injection Heat Pump System: A Comparison Study

Huashan Li¹, Xiaoshuang Zhao^1,2, Sihao Huang^1,2, Lingbao Wang¹, Jiongcong Chen^1,*

1 Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

* Corresponding Author: Jiongcong Chen. Email:

Energy Engineering 2023, 120(8), 1817-1835. https://doi.org/10.32604/ee.2023.027668

Received 08 November 2022; Accepted 16 January 2023; Issue published 05 June 2023

Abstract

Process heating constitutes a significant share of final energy consumption in the industrial sector around the world. In this paper, a high-temperature heat pump (HTHP) using flash tank vapor injection technology (FTVI) is proposed to develop low-temperature geothermal source for industrial process heating with temperature above 100°C. With heat sink output temperatures between 120°C and 150°C, the thermo-economic performance of the FTVI HTHP system using R1234ze(Z) as refrigerant is analyzed and also compared to the single-stage vapor compression (SSVC) system by employing the developed mathematical model. The coefficient of performance (COP), exergy efficiency (η_exe), net present value (NPV) and payback period (PBP) are used as performance indicators. The results show that under the typical working conditions, the COP and η_exe of FTVI HTHP system are 3.00 and 59.66%, respectively, and the corresponding NPV and PBP reach 8.13 × 10⁶ CNY and 4.13 years, respectively. Under the high-temperature heating conditions, the thermo-economic performance of the FTVI HTHP system is significantly better than that of the SSVC system, and the larger the temperature lift, the greater the thermo-economic advantage of the FTVI HTHP system. Additionally, the FTVI HTHP system is more capable than the SSVC system in absorbing the financial risks associated with changes of electricity price and natural gas price.

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Keywords

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