Air-Source Heat Pump for Distributed Steam Generation: A New and Sustainable Solution to Replace Coal-Fired Boilers in China

摘要

With the ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the use of coal-fired boilers in China are being gradually restricted and removed from use to control air pollution and reduce CO(2)emissions. However, current alternatives to coal-fired boilers such as gas-fired boilers, electric boilers, biomass boilers, and solar boilers have obvious limitations and drawbacks that can limit the spread of their use. An air-source heat pump boiler that can extract thermal energy from air and generate high-temperature steam is proposed, developed, and verified. The air-source heat pump boiler shows a stable system output with ambient temperature variations from 5 to 35 degrees C, with an energy efficiency as high as 150-210% to generate steam at more than 120 degrees C. Furthermore, by taking technical and economic analysis and carbon trading into consideration, air-source heat pump boiler has shown significant application advantages than other boilers. This research shows that air-source heat pump steam generation is feasible for replacing coal-fired boilers in China and could be a sustainable steam generation method.