Increasingly intensive efforts are being made to enhance energy systems via augmented introduction of renewable energy along with improved energy efficiency. Resource constraints and sustained high fossil fuel prices have created a new phenomenon in the world market. Enhanced energy security and renewable energy development are currently high on public agenda worldwide for achieving a high standard of welfare for future generations. Biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) have widely been accepted as important locally-available renewable energy sources offering low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Concerning solid waste management, it has become a critical issue in Southeast Asia since the most popular form for waste disposal still employs open dumping and landfilling. While the need for a complete sustainable energy solution is apparent, solid waste management is also an essential objective, so it makes sense to explore ways in which the two can be joined. Electricity production in combination with energy recovery from flue gases in thermal treatment plants is an integral part of MSW management for many industrialized nations. In Sweden, MSW is considered as an important fuel resource for partially meeting EU environmental targets within cogeneration. However it is normally difficult to justify traditional cogeneration in tropical locations since there is little need for the heat produced. Similarly, MSW-fired cogeneration usually operates with low capacity during non-heating season in Sweden. Therefore, it is very important to find new alternatives for energy applications from waste, such as the implementation of thermally driven cooling processes via absorption cooling in addition to electricity production. The work presented herein concentrates first on an investigation of electricity generation from MSW power plants and various energy applications from waste in tropical urban areas. The potential for various types of absorption chillers driven by MSW power plants for providing both electricity and cooling is of particular interest. Additionally a demonstration and analysis of decentralized thermally driven cooling in district heating network supplied by low temperature heat from a cogeneration of MSW have been conducted. This study aims at developing the best system configuration as well as finding improved system design and control for a combination of district heating and distributed thermally driven cooling. Results show that MSW incineration has the ability to lessen environmental impacts associated with waste disposal, and it can contribute positively towards expanding biomass-based energy production in Southeast Asia. For electricity production, the proposed hybrid dual-fuel (MSW/natural gas) cycles feature attractive electrical efficiency improvements, leading to greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Cogeneration coupled with thermally driven cooling is a solution that holds promise for uniting enhanced sustainability with economic advantages. The system offers great opportunity for primary energy saving, increasing electrical yield and can significantly reduce CO2 emissions per unit of cooling as compared to compression chiller. The demonstration and simulation have also revealed that there is a potential with some modifications and improvements to employ decentralized thermally driven cooling in district heating networks even in temperate regions like Sweden. Thus, expanding cogeneration towards trigeneration can augment the energy supply for summer months in Europe and for year-round cooling in tropical locations. / QC 20110408

The emergence of Thermally Driven Cooling system has received more attention recently due to its ability to utilize low grade heat from engine, incinerator or simple flat plate solar collector which are considered as renewable energy sources. ClimateWell AB located in Stockholm has been developing this cooling system based on its patented chemical heat pump technology. The heat pump with its tube shape is put under the absorber as in simple flat plate solar collector making it possible be directly attached on the roof without any additional solar collector. A high performance heat exchanger is needed by its reactor to absorb the energy efficiently during the desorption process as well as to recover heat during the absorption process. Current heat exchanger design has direct contact with the tube’s surface, yet air gaps between the tube and heat exchanger result in alower amount of heat transferred and non-uniform heat distribution across this surface. Moreover, a special treatment which cannot be done by machinery has to be performed in attaching the tube with this heat exchanger. It becomes a problem during mass production since a lot of man power is needed. A new heat exchanger design was proposed to overcome those limitations. This design has annulus which is filled with thermal fluid inside. This fluid will make perfect contact to the heat pump tube’s surface and eliminate the air gap. Furthermore, the need of man power in its production can be minimized. Even though perfect contact can be achieved, the fluid in this new design will increase thermal resistance in the radial direction. Therefore, an investigation has to be conducted to evaluate the performance of this new heat exchanger design based on heat transfer coefficient under steady state condition. The performance investigation also included the influence of various thermal fluids which will be used for this new heat exchanger. The work performed by doing simulation in COMSOL continued with validation of the result with experiment in laboratory. New heat exchanger design efficiency was only 50% while the current one was 82% during the desorption process. In this process, the fluid’s thermal conductivity was the most influencing fluid property. During absorption process, two heat recovery methods are used. First is by flowing the fluid inside the annulus and second is by using additional heat recovery pipe that is attached outside the heat exchanger surface. The first method gave the highest UA value around 34 W/K while the second one gave almost the same value as the current design which is around 11 W/K. In the first method, the thermal fluid’s viscosity strongly influenced its UA value while the second method is greatly influenced by fluid’s heat conductivity.

An enhanced-modularity thermally driven chemical heat pump was conceptualised as a second generation product for various heating and cooling applications with special emphasis on solar applications. The typical characteristics of the absorption heat pump were studied and the key performance parameters were selected for further investigation. An experimental test rig was constructed to allow for the testing of each component’s performance characteristics with special attention being paid to the ability to interchange components to test various configurations as well as to the facilitation of standardised relatively rapid testing. The heat transfer coefficient of the condenser/evaporator was found to be between 260 and 300 W/m2-°C during evaporation and between 130 and 170 W/m2-°C during condensation. Salt type has major impact on the system’s cooling power and cooling energy with the LiBr and water sorption pair having a 62% higher cooling/heating power than LiCl with the same matrix type and thickness. Matrix types and sorption pairs were compared with regards to the principal parameters of power and energy density with results ranging from 60 to 163 Wh/litre. The final section of the study tackled the theoretical foundation behind the system processes with modelling and simulation of the processes and comparison with the experimental data. The model makes the foundation of the continuous development of a more detailed and accurate physical model to enhance the design and optimisation process of the system.