IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i19p4832-d1486702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Utilizing Wastewater Tunnels as Thermal Reservoirs for Heat Pumps in Smart Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Fredrik Skaug Fadnes

    (Department of Energy and Petroleum, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway
    Department of Energy and Smart Technology, Norconsult AS, 1338 Sandvika, Norway)

  • Mohsen Assadi

    (Department of Energy and Petroleum, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway)

Abstract

The performance of heat pump systems for heating and cooling heavily relies on the thermal conditions of their reservoirs. This study introduces a novel thermal reservoir, detailing a 2017 project where the Municipality of Stavanger installed a heat exchanger system on the wall of a main wastewater tunnel beneath the city center. It provides a comprehensive account of the system’s design, installation, and performance, and presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that predicts heat pump capacity, electricity consumption, and outlet temperature across seasonal variations in wastewater temperatures. By integrating domain knowledge with the ANN, this study demonstrates the model’s capability to detect anomalies in heat pump operations effectively. The network also confirms the consistent performance of the heat exchangers from 2020 to 2024, indicating minimal fouling impacts. This study establishes wastewater heat exchangers as a safe, effective, and virtually maintenance-free solution for heat extraction and rejection.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredrik Skaug Fadnes & Mohsen Assadi, 2024. "Utilizing Wastewater Tunnels as Thermal Reservoirs for Heat Pumps in Smart Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-35, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4832-:d:1486702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4832/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4832/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Rosenow & Duncan Gibb & Thomas Nowak & Richard Lowes, 2022. "Heating up the global heat pump market," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 901-904, October.
    2. Lund, Rasmus & Persson, Urban, 2016. "Mapping of potential heat sources for heat pumps for district heating in Denmark," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 129-138.
    3. Fredrik Skaug Fadnes & Reyhaneh Banihabib & Mohsen Assadi, 2023. "Using Artificial Neural Networks to Gather Intelligence on a Fully Operational Heat Pump System in an Existing Building Cluster," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-33, May.
    4. Daniele Cecconet & Jakub Raček & Arianna Callegari & Petr Hlavínek, 2019. "Energy Recovery from Wastewater: A Study on Heating and Cooling of a Multipurpose Building with Sewage-Reclaimed Heat Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Aguilera, José Joaquín & Meesenburg, Wiebke & Markussen, Wiebke Brix & Zühlsdorf, Benjamin & Elmegaard, Brian, 2024. "Real-time monitoring and optimization of a large-scale heat pump prone to fouling - towards a digital twin framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tong Ren & Mengzhuo Li & Long He & De Wang & Lingbo Kong, 2025. "A Theoretical and Test Analysis of Heat and Humidity Transfer for Deeply Buried Underground Corridors with Different Shapes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-24, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Xiang & Yilmaz, Selin & Patel, Martin K. & Chambers, Jonathan, 2023. "Techno-economic analysis of fifth-generation district heating and cooling combined with seasonal borehole thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    2. Rämä, Miika & Wahlroos, Mikko, 2018. "Introduction of new decentralised renewable heat supply in an existing district heating system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 68-79.
    3. Mehdipour, Ramin & Garvey, Seamus & Baniamerian, Zahra & Cardenas, Bruno, 2024. "Ice source heat pump system for energy supply via gas pipelines – Part1: Performance analysis in residential units," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    4. Fouladvand, Javanshir & Aranguren Rojas, Maria & Hoppe, Thomas & Ghorbani, Amineh, 2022. "Simulating thermal energy community formation: Institutional enablers outplaying technological choice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    5. Pauli Hiltunen & Sanna Syri, 2020. "Highly Renewable District Heat for Espoo Utilizing Waste Heat Sources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2021. "Variable taxes promoting district heating heat pump flexibility," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    7. Ziemele, Jelena & Gravelsins, Armands & Blumberga, Andra & Blumberga, Dagnija, 2017. "Sustainability of heat energy tariff in district heating system: Statistic and dynamic methodologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 834-845.
    8. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2018. "Economic feasibility of booster heat pumps in heat pump-based district heating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 921-929.
    9. Bühler, Fabian & Petrović, Stefan & Karlsson, Kenneth & Elmegaard, Brian, 2017. "Industrial excess heat for district heating in Denmark," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 991-1001.
    10. Ma, Di & Chen, Qi & Yan, Gang, 2024. "Thermodynamic and economic analysis of a solar-assisted ejector-enhanced flash tank vapor injection heat pump cycle with dual evaporators," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    11. David Meyer & Robert Schoetter & Maarten Reeuwijk, 2024. "Energy and environmental impacts of air-to-air heat pumps in a mid-latitude city," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Heino Pesch & Louis Louw, 2023. "Exploring the Industrial Symbiosis Potential of Plant Factories during the Initial Establishment Phase," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, January.
    13. Luo, Ao & Fang, Hao & Xia, Jianjun & Lin, Borong & jiang, Yi, 2017. "Mapping potentials of low-grade industrial waste heat in Northern China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 335-348.
    14. Andrei David & Brian Vad Mathiesen & Helge Averfalk & Sven Werner & Henrik Lund, 2017. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Large-Scale Electric Heat Pumps in District Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Zygmunt Lipnicki & Marta Gortych & Daniel Polak, 2024. "The Joint Use of a Phase Heat Accumulator and a Compressor Heat Pump," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    16. Buddhika Arsecularatne & Navodana Rodrigo & Ruidong Chang, 2024. "Digital Twins for Reducing Energy Consumption in Buildings: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Averfalk, Helge & Werner, Sven, 2020. "Economic benefits of fourth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    18. Sveinbjörnsson, Dadi & Ben Amer-Allam, Sara & Hansen, Anders Bavnhøj & Algren, Loui & Pedersen, Allan Schrøder, 2017. "Energy supply modelling of a low-CO2 emitting energy system: Case study of a Danish municipality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 922-941.
    19. Zhao, Chuandang & Xu, Jiuping & Wang, Fengjuan & Xie, Guo & Tan, Cheng, 2024. "Economic–environmental trade-offs based support policy towards optimal planning of wastewater heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    20. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2016. "Booster heat pumps and central heat pumps in district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1374-1388.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4832-:d:1486702. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.