IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i13p5870-d1687773.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cascaded Absorption Heat Pump Integration in Biomass CHP Systems: Multi-Source Waste Heat Recovery for Low-Carbon District Heating

Author

Listed:
  • Pengying Wang

    (College of Engineering and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China)

  • Hangyu Zhou

    (College of Engineering and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China)

Abstract

District heating systems in northern China predominantly rely on coal-fired heat sources, necessitating sustainable alternatives to reduce carbon emissions. This study investigates a biomass combined heat and power (CHP) system integrated with cascaded absorption heat pump (AHP) technology to recover waste heat from semi-dry flue gas desulfurization exhaust and turbine condenser cooling water. A multi-source operational framework is developed, coordinating biomass CHP units with coal-fired boilers for peak-load regulation. The proposed system employs a two-stage heat recovery methodology: preliminary sensible heat extraction from non-saturated flue gas (elevating primary heating loop (PHL) return water from 50 °C to 55 °C), followed by serial AHPs utilizing turbine extraction steam to upgrade waste heat from circulating cooling water (further heating PHL water to 85 °C). Parametric analyses demonstrate that the cascaded AHP system reduces turbine steam extraction by 4.4 to 8.8 t/h compared to conventional steam-driven heating, enabling 3235 MWh of annual additional power generation. Environmental benefits include an annual CO 2 reduction of 1821 tonnes, calculated using regional grid emission factors. The integration of waste heat recovery and multi-source coordination achieves synergistic improvements in energy efficiency and operational flexibility, advancing low-carbon transitions in district heating systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Pengying Wang & Hangyu Zhou, 2025. "Cascaded Absorption Heat Pump Integration in Biomass CHP Systems: Multi-Source Waste Heat Recovery for Low-Carbon District Heating," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5870-:d:1687773
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5870/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5870/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brückner, Sarah & Liu, Selina & Miró, Laia & Radspieler, Michael & Cabeza, Luisa F. & Lävemann, Eberhard, 2015. "Industrial waste heat recovery technologies: An economic analysis of heat transformation technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 157-167.
    2. Mu, Lianbo & Wang, Suilin & Lu, Junhui & Liu, Guichang & Zhao, Liqiu & Lan, Yuncheng, 2023. "Effect of flue gas condensing waste heat recovery and its pressure drop on energy saving and carbon reduction for refinery heating furnace," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    3. Aydin, Devrim & Casey, Sean P. & Riffat, Saffa, 2015. "The latest advancements on thermochemical heat storage systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 356-367.
    4. Chen, Handing & Guo, Shunzhi & Song, Xudong & He, Tianbiao, 2024. "Design and evaluation of a municipal solid waste incineration power plant integrating with absorption heat pump," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    5. Fu, Lin & Li, Yonghong & Wu, Yanting & Wang, Xiaoyin & Jiang, Yi, 2021. "Low carbon district heating in China in 2025- a district heating mode with low grade waste heat as heat source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    6. Huicochea, A., 2023. "A novel advanced absorption heat pump (Type III) for cooling and heating using low-grade waste heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
    7. An, Xinyuan & Tang, Chuyang & Liu, Jiaqi & Song, Xuan & Huang, Chunhong, 2025. "Catalytic pyrolysis of biomass using desulfurization ash: Enhanced bio-oil yields and reaction pathway modulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(C).
    8. Pengying Wang & Shuo Zhang, 2022. "Retrofitting Strategies Based on Orthogonal Array Testing to Develop Nearly Zero Energy Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Xu, Z.Y. & Mao, H.C. & Liu, D.S. & Wang, R.Z., 2018. "Waste heat recovery of power plant with large scale serial absorption heat pumps," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1097-1105.
    10. Zhang, Ze & Li, KaiHua & Liang, ZhongWang, 2025. "Study on the removal of escaping ammonia and fly ash from biomass combustion flue gas by micro-vortex method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    11. Yuan, Xiaolei & Liu, Jiayi & Sun, Sijia & Lin, Xiaojie & Fan, Xiaojun & Zhao, Weixin & Kosonen, Risto, 2025. "Data center waste heat for district heating networks: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lin, Yuancheng & Chong, Chin Hao & Ma, Linwei & Li, Zheng & Ni, Weidou, 2022. "Quantification of waste heat potential in China: A top-down Societal Waste Heat Accounting Model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    2. Zhang, Qi & Gao, Jintong & Wang, Yujie & Wang, Lin & Yu, Zaihai & Song, Dayong, 2019. "Exergy-based analysis combined with LCA for waste heat recovery in coal-fired CHP plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 247-262.
    3. Dzierwa, Piotr & Trojan, Marcin & Peret, Patryk & Taler, Jan & Taler, Dawid & Kaczmarski, Karol & Wrobel, Wojciech & Bator, Jakub, 2024. "Technological and economical analysis of the heat recovery system from flue gas in a thermal waste treatment plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    4. Park, Sejun & Choi, Hyung Won & Lee, Jae Won & Cho, Hyun Uk & Lee, Nam Soo & Kang, Yong Tae, 2023. "Performance analysis of ionic liquids for simultaneous cooling and heating absorption system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    5. Yang, Xiaolin & Liu, Zhaoyang & Xia, Jianjun, 2023. "Optimization and analysis of combined heat and water production system based on a coal-fired power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    6. Liu, W. & Ji, Y. & Wang, R.Q. & Zhang, X.J. & Jiang, L., 2023. "Analysis on temperature vacuum swing adsorption integrated with heat pump for efficient carbon capture," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    7. Singh Gaur, Ankita & Fitiwi, Desta & Curtis, John, 2019. "Heat pumps and their role in decarbonising heating Sector: a comprehensive review," Papers WP627, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    8. Wang, Haichao & Hua, Pengmin & Wu, Xiaozhou & Zhang, Ruoyu & Granlund, Katja & Li, Ji & Zhu, Yingjie & Lahdelma, Risto & Teppo, Esa & Yu, Li, 2022. "Heat-power decoupling and energy saving of the CHP unit with heat pump based waste heat recovery system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    9. Xu, Jingyuan & Luo, Ercang & Hochgreb, Simone, 2021. "A thermoacoustic combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system for waste heat and LNG cold energy recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    10. Handing Chen & Xudong Song & Yingfu Jian, 2024. "Performance Assessment of a Municipal Solid Waste Gasification and Power Generation System Integrated with Absorption Heat Pump Drying," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-21, November.
    11. Elias Vieren & Toon Demeester & Wim Beyne & Chiara Magni & Hamed Abedini & Cordin Arpagaus & Stefan Bertsch & Alessia Arteconi & Michel De Paepe & Steven Lecompte, 2023. "The Potential of Vapor Compression Heat Pumps Supplying Process Heat between 100 and 200 °C in the Chemical Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-28, September.
    12. Wang, Zhenpu & Xu, Jing & Ma, Suxia & Zhao, Guanjia & Wang, Jianfei & Gu, Yujiong, 2025. "Comparative investigation on heat pump solutions for peak shaving and heat-power decoupling in combined heat and power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    13. Romo-De-La-Cruz, Cesar-Octavio & Chen, Yun & Liang, Liang & Paredes-Navia, Sergio A. & Wong-Ng, Winnie K. & Song, Xueyan, 2023. "Entering new era of thermoelectric oxide ceramics with high power factor through designing grain boundaries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    14. Pili, Roberto & Romagnoli, Alessandro & Jiménez-Arreola, Manuel & Spliethoff, Hartmut & Wieland, Christoph, 2019. "Simulation of Organic Rankine Cycle – Quasi-steady state vs dynamic approach for optimal economic performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 619-640.
    15. Courbon, Emilie & D'Ans, Pierre & Permyakova, Anastasia & Skrylnyk, Oleksandr & Steunou, Nathalie & Degrez, Marc & Frère, Marc, 2017. "A new composite sorbent based on SrBr2 and silica gel for solar energy storage application with high energy storage density and stability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1184-1194.
    16. Miguel Castro Oliveira & Muriel Iten & Pedro L. Cruz & Helena Monteiro, 2020. "Review on Energy Efficiency Progresses, Technologies and Strategies in the Ceramic Sector Focusing on Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    17. Alva, Guruprasad & Lin, Yaxue & Fang, Guiyin, 2018. "An overview of thermal energy storage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 341-378.
    18. Ashouri, Mahyar & Chhokar, Callum & Bahrami, Majid, 2024. "A novel microgroove-based absorber for sorption heat transformation systems: Analytical modeling and experimental investigation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    19. Lai, Chun Sing & Locatelli, Giorgio, 2021. "Economic and financial appraisal of novel large-scale energy storage technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    20. Wang, Yihan & Chen, Tingsen & Khan, Sheher Yar & Liu, Shuli & Shen, Yongliang & Shao, Yingjuan & Ji, Wenjie & Xu, Zhiqi, 2025. "Evaluation and optimization of a novel CPC-PV/T driven cooling, heating and power cogeneration system based on thermochemical energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5870-:d:1687773. 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.