A techno-economic case study using heat driven absorption refrigeration technology in UK industry

This paper reports a case study on a UK industry using heat driven absorption refrigeration technology. The system performance of the absorption refrigerator to recovery the industry wasted heat and economic analysis using the heat driven absorption system have been conducted. Results indicates when the evaporating temperature is 5°C , the optimal COP of the absorption chiller is about 0.825 under 60°C generator temperature and the maximum COP of the system under 10°C evaporating temperature can be as high as 0.86 with 55°C generator temperature. Under the optimal operating condition to recover 200 kWh from exhaust gases, the average required heat load of absorber and condenser are 190 kWh and 175 kWh, respectively. When the generator temperature is eat at 60°C , the cooling production from the absorption chiller is 172 W. The economic analysis suggests the average payback period to use the absorption system for UK industry application is about 2.5 years and the highest annual electricity cost saving can be as high as £105 per kw thermal heat input.