Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump

This thesis presents a techno-economic analysis of ECOP’s rotational heat pump (RHP), comparing Xenon (Xe) and Krypton (Kr) as working fluids. The goal was to understand how refrigerant choice affects the RHP performance and economics across Europe, given ECOP's plan to transition from Xe to Kr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Babaei, Elaheh
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/444555
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/444555
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Heat pumps
Refrigerants
Heat -- Transmission
Bombes de calor
Calor -- Transmissió
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Energies
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spelling Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pumpBabaei, ElahehHeat pumpsRefrigerantsHeat -- TransmissionBombes de calorRefrigerantsCalor -- TransmissióÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::EnergiesThis thesis presents a techno-economic analysis of ECOP’s rotational heat pump (RHP), comparing Xenon (Xe) and Krypton (Kr) as working fluids. The goal was to understand how refrigerant choice affects the RHP performance and economics across Europe, given ECOP's plan to transition from Xe to Kr. In the thermodynamic analysis, heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops for Xe and Kr were evaluated over a 0–200 °C and 70–170 bar range using fluid properties (density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat) and dimensionless numbers (Reynolds, Prandtl, Nusselt). Results show that Xe achieves higher heat transfer coefficients at low to moderate temperatures and pressures due to its proximity to the critical point along the pseudo-critical line. Beyond this region, at higher pressures and temperatures, Krypton’s more uniform fluid properties enable it to match or slightly surpass Xenon’s performance. Across all conditions, Xe yields lower pressure losses (0.38–2.36 bar) than Kr (0.65–4 bar), especially at lower temperatures and pressures. The economic analysis began with a sensitivity study, identifying electricity price, natural gas price, and Coefficient of Performance (COP) as the primary drivers of the payback period, despite Xe’s refrigerant filling cost being an order of magnitude higher than Kr. Building on these results, 31 countries (mostly within EU) were evaluated for their payback period under four scenarios (Xe vs. Kr, with and without CO₂ costs) at COP values of 3, 4, and 6, using each country’s electricity-to-gas price ratio. Only 15 % of the countries achieve payback under five years at COP 3, rising to roughly half the markets at COP 4 and to nearly 90 % at COP 6. Including CO₂ cost savings triples the sub-5-year market at COP 3 (to ~ 40 %), lifts it above 90 % at COP 4, and ensures all 31 countries meet the five-year threshold by COP 6. Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) calculations show the RHP delivers heat at 56.9–63 €/MWh, undercutting natural-gas boilers by roughly 10–15 €/MWh, with refrigerant choice affecting LCOH by less than 1 €/MWh. The findings of this thesis will inform ECOP’s application focus and guide strategic market expansion decisions.OutgoingUniversitat Politècnica de CatalunyaOliet Casasayas, CarlesSacharowitz, Fabian20252025-07-1420252025-10-2420302030-06-26master thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccNAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesisapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/444555reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengembargoed accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_f1cfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/4445552026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
title Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
spellingShingle Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
Babaei, Elaheh
Heat pumps
Refrigerants
Heat -- Transmission
Bombes de calor
Refrigerants
Calor -- Transmissió
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Energies
title_short Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
title_full Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
title_fullStr Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
title_full_unstemmed Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
title_sort Techno-economic analysis of Ecop Technologies’ high-temperature heat pump
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Babaei, Elaheh
author Babaei, Elaheh
author_facet Babaei, Elaheh
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Oliet Casasayas, Carles
Sacharowitz, Fabian
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Heat pumps
Refrigerants
Heat -- Transmission
Bombes de calor
Refrigerants
Calor -- Transmissió
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Energies
topic Heat pumps
Refrigerants
Heat -- Transmission
Bombes de calor
Refrigerants
Calor -- Transmissió
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Energies
description This thesis presents a techno-economic analysis of ECOP’s rotational heat pump (RHP), comparing Xenon (Xe) and Krypton (Kr) as working fluids. The goal was to understand how refrigerant choice affects the RHP performance and economics across Europe, given ECOP's plan to transition from Xe to Kr. In the thermodynamic analysis, heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops for Xe and Kr were evaluated over a 0–200 °C and 70–170 bar range using fluid properties (density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat) and dimensionless numbers (Reynolds, Prandtl, Nusselt). Results show that Xe achieves higher heat transfer coefficients at low to moderate temperatures and pressures due to its proximity to the critical point along the pseudo-critical line. Beyond this region, at higher pressures and temperatures, Krypton’s more uniform fluid properties enable it to match or slightly surpass Xenon’s performance. Across all conditions, Xe yields lower pressure losses (0.38–2.36 bar) than Kr (0.65–4 bar), especially at lower temperatures and pressures. The economic analysis began with a sensitivity study, identifying electricity price, natural gas price, and Coefficient of Performance (COP) as the primary drivers of the payback period, despite Xe’s refrigerant filling cost being an order of magnitude higher than Kr. Building on these results, 31 countries (mostly within EU) were evaluated for their payback period under four scenarios (Xe vs. Kr, with and without CO₂ costs) at COP values of 3, 4, and 6, using each country’s electricity-to-gas price ratio. Only 15 % of the countries achieve payback under five years at COP 3, rising to roughly half the markets at COP 4 and to nearly 90 % at COP 6. Including CO₂ cost savings triples the sub-5-year market at COP 3 (to ~ 40 %), lifts it above 90 % at COP 4, and ensures all 31 countries meet the five-year threshold by COP 6. Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) calculations show the RHP delivers heat at 56.9–63 €/MWh, undercutting natural-gas boilers by roughly 10–15 €/MWh, with refrigerant choice affecting LCOH by less than 1 €/MWh. The findings of this thesis will inform ECOP’s application focus and guide strategic market expansion decisions.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-07-14
2025
2025-10-24
2030
2030-06-26
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv master thesis
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdcc
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis
format masterThesis
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/444555
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/444555
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv embargoed access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_f1cf
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv embargoed access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_f1cf
eu_rights_str_mv embargoedAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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