Performance analysis of an absorption heat transformer with different working fluid combinations

The absorption heat transformer (AHT) is a promising system for recovering waste heat. It can effectively recover about 50% of the waste heat and reuse it in industrial processes. However, there exists a need for identifying suitable working fluid combinations and for evaluating their relative performance characteristics. As an initial step, this paper presents a comparative performance study for the absorption heat transformer with H2O/LiBr, TFE(2,2,2-trifluoroethanol)/NMP(N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), TFE/E181 (dimethylether tetraethylene glycol) and TFE/PYR(2-pyrrolidone). The results show that the four working fluid combinations are all suitable for absorption heat transformers. H2O/LiBr is suitable at lower operating temperatures, while TFE/NMP, TFE/E181 and TFE/PYR are suitable at higher operating temperatures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.