Energies, Vol. 12, Pages 2298: Performance Simulation and Benefit Analysis of Ammonia Absorption Cooling and Heating Dual-Supply System Based on Off-Peak Electricity Heat Storage (Energies)

The energy consumption of urban central heating in northern China is two to four times that in northern Europe and other countries. Beijing has adopted measures, such as ‘coal to gas’ and ‘coal to electricity’, to reduce environmental pollution caused by central heating. Given a peak-to-valley difference in the electricity supply of power plant, which is uneven day and night, this study proposes to store the night-time off-peak electricity in the form of heat energy and drive the ammonia absorption system in the form of steam or hot water during peak or flat electricity. Simulation results of ammonia absorption cooling and heating dual-supply system show that heat source temperature increases, evaporation temperature increases, and cooling water temperature decreases are all beneficial to improve the refrigeration coefficient in the summer cooling condition. In the meantime, heat source temperature increases, evaporation temperature increases, and cooling water temperature decreases are beneficial for increasing the heating coefficient in the winter heating condition. The heating and cooling coefficients of the system are 1.38 and 0.65 in the optimal working condition in winter and summer. Benefit analysis shows that, compared with central heating and cold storage air conditioning, the system can save 576,000 tons of standard coal and 1.417 million tons of carbon dioxide if used in 12% of the cooling and heat supply areas in Beijing. The potential for energy saving and emission reduction is large.