Breakthrough High Temperature Heat Pump Technology for Foundation Industry Decarbonisation

Climate change has been described by the UN as the defining crisis of our time, which is happening even more quickly than previously feared. Human-induced warming reached approximately 1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2017 and is continuing to increase at 0.2°C per decade.

To keep the temperature increase compared to pre-industrial levels below an increase of 2°C, global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is required. The industrial sector (of which Chemical Manufacturing is a significant part) is responsible for around 46% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, improving industrial energy efficiency has a significant role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Industrial waste heat recovery is recognised as a vital technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, most heat below 100°C is lost to the ambient environment, even though it could theoretically be captured using high-efficiency heat-pump technology. Heat pumps use electrically activated compressors in a reverse Carnot cycle to raise the low-temperature waste industrial heat source to valuable high-temperature heat, usually in the form of steam or pressurised water.

In particular, high-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) are defined by the International Energy Agency as those which convert heat source temperatures of 40-60°C to heat sink temperatures of 80-100°C (the current market offer), while very HTHPs operate at heat sink and source temperatures of above 100°C and 60°C, respectively.

Although the environmental benefits and potential of HTHPs are well understood, they have not yet gained widespread commercial acceptance because of technological challenges and their higher cost (at c£500 - 900/kW) compared to conventional boilers and fossil fuels (c£200/kW). Yet, it has been estimated that 2.85% of the world's primary energy consumption is lost as industrial waste heat below 100°C.

If all the industrial waste heat in the EU could be captured, then we estimate that this would be equivalent to a reduction of approximately 15 million tonnes/year of carbon dioxide emissions (roughly equivalent to taking 20 million petrol cars off the road).

With Innovate UK support, Nthalpy (lead SME) will partner with Projective (partner SME; leading UK provider of technical consulting and engineering services) to develop the world's first sub-1MW high-temperature heat-pump that can compete commercially with burning fossil fuels. By overcoming the existing technological and commercial barriers, this project will unlock the ability to capture waste low-temperature heat at scale. Mitigating climate change and supporting the UK's net zero ambition.