Sorption Heat-pump Component Boosting Energy-efficiency in Gas-fired Boilers

Project Information

HEATBOOST

Grant agreement ID: 652124

DOI

10.3030/652124

Project closed

EC signature date 5 September 2014

Start date 1 October 2014

End date 31 March 2015

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SALTX TECHNOLOGY AB
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HEATBOOST (Sorption Heat-pump Component Boosting Energy-efficiency in Gas-fired Boilers)

Reporting period: 2014-10-01 to 2015-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

September 26th later this year marks the start of upcoming stricter EU regulations for residential space heaters including gas boilers, driving fast development of more energy-efficient heating appliances and European-wide introduction of Gas Heat Pumps (GHP’s).

ClimateWell AB, a Swedish award-winning innovation company and leading provider of unique thermo-chemical sorption technology, has in this Feasibility Study verified the technical and commercial feasibility of a unique thermal heat pump component - HeatBoost – that can be integrated in Gas Heat Pumps, raising the thermal efficiency in gas-fired boilers up to 170%, combined with a 90-degree temperature lift.

HeatBoost makes it possible to heat pump outside ambient air (as the renewable energy source) down to -20° C, and enables retrofitting in houses with old, high temperature radiators, while achieving an annual energy efficiency of over 130%.

The technology can potentially save more than 30% of the natural gas consumption, and thus energy cost for a typical European household using a conventional condensing gas boiler today. The cost premium for the technology can be paid back in less than 3 years, making it an attractive investment for the end-user and possible to finance.

Working already with major OEM’s like GE, Caterpillar, Rheem and Alfa Laval in other applications, ClimateWell is now initiating a Phase 2 Project, using best-in-class expertise in this field, to demonstrate the concept full-scale in an operational environment.

ClimateWell has secured the support of Europe’s leading gas utility company Gaz de France (GDF), the IEA heat pump programme working group for GHP’s as well as the European Heat Pump Association, forming an industry reference group to provide valuable industry input.
ClimateWell’s target customers, the European gas boiler OEM’s such as Vaillant, BDR and Ariston, will be solicited for feedback throughout the Project as well as attend the demonstration of the GHP concept at the end of the Project.

While the target market for domestic space heating in Europe is huge with an installed base of 90 million boilers and over 8 million sold every year, the potential environmental impact is even bigger with a total reduction of the CO2 footprint of 61.5 million tons.

ClimateWell estimates the addressable market to 1 million components per year, which at 1000 Euro per HeatBoost component, is valued to 1 billion Euro.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The objective of this Feasibility Study was to conduct a Feasibility Study to verify the technical and commercial feasibility of integrating ClimateWell’s new HeatBoost sorption component into a gas-fired boiler: so called Gas Heat Pump (“GHP”).
The work done in this Feasibility Study was divided in to the following 7 tasks:
1. Verify the market requirements and identify key design criteria.
2. Create a preliminary concept design and dimensioning of the GHP
3. Perform computer simulation and validate by testing in lab.
4. Estimate manufacturing cost of the CW HeatBoost component and total GHP system cost.
5. Verify the value proposition for end-user and calculate the payback time of the GHP.
6. Present the results from tasks 1-5 to potential joint development OEM partners of gas boilers.
7. Create a Phase 2 Project Plan and draft a preliminary commercial business plan.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The impact of the Phase 2 is the same as described in the Phase 1 application:

As demonstrated in this Feasibility Study, the potential energy saving compared to a condensing gas boiler with 85% SCOP is 31% (including electricity), which is the equivalent of 10,000 kWh and a cost saving of almost 500 EUR/year for a typical European household. The potential reduction of CO2 emission is 2.7 tonnes CO2 per year. Based on current installed base of 90 million boilers of which at least 25% (=22.5 million boilers) could be replaced with this new type of GHP, the total potential reduction of emission in Europe is 61.5 million tonnes CO2 every year representing a 12% reduction of the total CO2 emission from HVAC systems.

The target market for domestic space heating in Europe is huge with an installed base of 90 million boilers and over 8 million sold every year. The potential environmental impact is even bigger with a total reduction of the CO2 footprint of 61.5 million tons.

ClimateWell estimates the addressable market to 1 million components per year, which at 1000 Euro per HeatBoost component, is valued to 1 billion Euro

Heatboost