$10m funding for US heat pump projects

The US Department of Energy will provide over $10 million in financing for four heat pump research projects that aim to lower industrial greenhouse gas emissions (DOE). In all, the DOE's Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonisation Office (IEDO) committed $171 million to 49 projects. In addition to heat pumps, another project chosen aims to lower the cost and improve the thermal conductivity of carbon fibres based on carbon nanotubes that are used as heat exchanger fins. Shell, Reaction Engines, Avery Dennison, Goodyear, Mars Corporation, TotalEnergies, and Unilever, along with Echogen Power Systems, will receive $3 million to create a pilot-scale heat pump that can heat air to exceed 300°C using an ambient temperature heat source. A low specific speed centrifugal compressor and a unique high temperature CO2-to-air heat exchanger will power the system's supercritical CO2 cycle. It is claimed that the fluid's high density and heat capacity allow for a reduction in heat exchanger size, while the supercritical CO2 cycle permits high COP and high process temperatures without the need for waste heat recovery. In comparison to natural gas-fired heaters, the technology is said to be able to cut energy intensity by more than 50% and life cycle carbon emissions by more than 90%.

Source: US Department of Energy (DOE).