LAUSR

Abstract Sensible heat transportation with water is widely adopted in traditional heating network, which suffers from the low energy transportation density and inevitable heat loss for long-distance heat transportation. To address these two issues, the solution transportation absorption system has been proposed, which transports the thermal energy by stable chemical potential. However, boundary between the two technologies is not clear due to the lack of direct comparison on both technological and economic aspects. In this work, feasibility analysis of the solution transportation absorption system is performed using Aspen plus, and low ambient temperature is considered for a practical scenario. Economic contrast is performed by exergoeconomic analysis. Results show that the coefficient of performance and exergy efficiency of the solution transportation absorption system can reach 0.556 and 24.6% in optimal condition. The energy transportation density is nearly three times higher than that of traditional sensible heat transportation. Moreover, the exergoeconomic analysis indicates that the new system is more economical when the distance exceeds 6 km. It has been proved that the solution transportation absorption system is a feasible and economical way to efficiently transport thermal energy over long distance.