This paper analyses the feasibility of HCFO-1224yd(Z), HCFO-1233zd(E) and HFO-1336mzz(Z), three low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, as alternatives to HFC-245fa in high-temperature heat pump (HTHP) systems for low-grade waste heat recovery. HTHPs are a sustainable technology that can help to mitigate the climate change through the thermal valorisation of the industrial low-grade waste heat. Before presenting and analysing the results, mapping of the minimum superheat degree requirement in the operating range, and the influence of the Internal Heat Exchanger (IHX) on each alternative are studied. The simulations were carried out at condensing temperatures from 115 to 145 ºC and evaporating temperatures from 45 to 75 ºC, using single-stage cycle with and without IHX. Finally, Total Equivalent Warming Impact (TEWI) evaluation is performed to illustrate the environmental effect of each alternative. Attending to the results, HCFO-1233zd(E) improves the COP about 27% compared to HFC-245fa, whereas HFO-1336mzz(Z) and HCFO-1224yd(Z) show an improvement of approx. 21 and 17%, respectively. Although HCFO-1233zd(E) and HCFO-1224yd(Z) present similar suction volumetric flow rate to HFC-245fa, HFO-1336mzz(Z) shows a relative increment up to 80%, and therefore, higher compressor and installation size are expected for this refrigerant. Finally, the TEWI analysis presents a significant reduction of the equivalent CO2 emissions for each low GWP alternative, between 59 and 61%. HCFO-1233zd(E) shows the highest reduction in all the simulation cases, followed by HCFO-1224yd(Z) and HFO-1336mzz(Z).

Highlights:  The energy performance and volumetric heating capacity of different vapour compression configurations are compared.  HCFO-1233zd(E), HFO-1336mzz(Z), Butane and n-Pentane are considered as alternative working fluids for HFC-245fa.  The alternatives suggested increase the energy performance in all conditions and configurations.  The proper configuration selection is highly dependent on the temperature lift between the evaporation and condensing temperatures.  n-Pentane achieves the highest COP of 3.85 for heating production up to 150 ºC.

High-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) based on vapour compression can be used for industrial low-grade waste heat valorisation, which can aid in mitigating climate change. Currently, the performance of HTHPs operating at high-temperatures lifts is limited; therefore, advanced configurations become an opportunity for their utilization. This paper presents an HTHP cascade with configurations of internal heat exchangers (IHXs) that uses low GWP refrigerants in both high-stage (HS) (HCFO-1233zd(E), HFO-1336mzz(Z), HCFO-1224yd(Z), and pentane) and lowstage (LS) (HFO-1234yf, HFO-1234ze(E), butane, isobutane, and propane) cycles. Prior to the analysis and presentation of results, an optimisation of the operating conditions is performed based on intermediate temperature and IHX effectiveness in both stage cycles. Results indicate that butane and isobutane appear to be the most convenient working LS fluids from the point of view of coefficient of performance (COP). The highest system performance is obtained using pentane and HFO-1336mzz(Z) in the HS cycle. Compared to third-generation refrigerants (HFC-245fa/HFC-134a), a slight COP improvement is obtained using HCFO-1233zd(E), and HCFO-1224yd(Z). A comparable or even lower volumetric flow rate at the HS compression suction is also observed. The use of pentane/butane achieved maximum COP (3.15), which is a 13% improvement compared to COP obtained when HFC-245fa/HFC-134a is employed. Highlights  A high-temperature heat pump cascade with the IHXs is proposed and optimised.  Synthetic and natural refrigerants with low GWPs are proposed for both stages.  The higher effectiveness of both IHXs in similar proportions increases total COP.  Pentane/butane presents maximum COP and minimum HCFO-1224yd(Z)/HFO-1234yf.  A few refrigerant pairs are comparable with HFC-245fa/HFC-134a in the stages of .

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Nowadays, a high amount of industrial thermal energy is still lost due to the lack of competitive solutions for energy revalorization. Facing this challenge, this paper presents a novel technology, based on a reversible High-Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The proposed system recovers low-grade waste heat to generate electricity or useful heat in accordance with consumer demand. Compressor and expander semi-empirical models have been considered for the reversible system computational simulation, being HFC-245fa the working fluid selected. The built-in volume ratio and Internal Heat Exchanger (IHX) effectiveness have been optimized to reach the maximum energy efficiency in each operating condition. Although HFC-245fa exhibits energy performance attributes, its high Global Warming Potential (GWP) is an issue for climate change mitigation. Hence, multi-objective optimisation of the environmentally friendly working fluids Butane, Pentane, HFO-1336mzz(Z), R-514A, HCFO-1233zd(E) and HCFO-1224yd(Z) has been carried out. The results show that the system proposed, working with HFC-245fa, achieves a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 2.44 for condensing temperature of 140 °C, operating in HTHP mode, whereas the ORC mode provides a net electrical efficiency of 8.7% at condensing temperature of 40 °C. Besides, HCFO-1233zd(E) and HCFO-1224yd(Z) are both appropriate alternatives for the HFC-245fa replacement. These working fluids provide a COP improvement of 9.7% and 5.8% and electrical net efficiency improvement of 2.1% and 0.8%, respectively, compared to HFC-245fa. This paper provides a reference study for further designs and developments of reversible HTHP-ORC systems used for industrial low-grade waste heat recovery.