Application of a heat pump system using untreated urban sewage as a heat source

Untreated urban sewage contains large amounts of thermal energy; and its temperature is suitable as a heat source in heat pumps for the heating and cooling of buildings. However, it is not widely used in heat pump systems due to the problem of filth. This paper presents an untreated sewage source heat pump (USSHP) system in which auto-avoiding-clogging equipment is used to continuously capture suspended solids in the sewage. Thus, the block problems caused by filtration and fouling in the heat exchanger tubes can be efficiently resolved in this system. In an actual engineering application, the characteristic parameters of USSHP system are tested under typical operating conditions for heating status. Based on the test results, the performances of the USSHP system are examined. The results indicate that the thermal resistance of the convective heat transfer and fouling on the sewage side in the sewage exchanger is 80% of its total thermal resistance. The COP of the heat pump unit and the COP of the USSHP system are 4.3 and 3.6, respectively. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.