Heat Pumps in ASEAN: The Key to Meeting Net Zero Targets?
Technology and Collaboration Crucial to Achieve Sustainability Goals

By Chia Peng Kiang, Growth Application Manager, Industrial Refrigeration (Rest of Asia), Johnson Controls

The 2020s will be a decade of climate action and support, according to the United Nations. At the UN's Conference of Parties (COP26) on climate change in Glasgow, countries agreed to keep "1.5C alive,”  which means cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to 45% by 2030 and net zero by 2050, compared to 2010 levels.

Other key outcomes of the Glasgow Climate Pact include the agreement to “phase down” coal usage and to mobilize funds to help countries with less resources cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy.

In ASEAN, the renewable energy sector was heavily disrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the region is expected to accelerate investment in and expanding low-carbon energy sources to meet emission goals. This includes a 23% share of renewable sources in total primary energy supply and a 35% share in installed power by 2025. 

Closer to home Singapore, with limited land and alternative energy options, faces starker trade-offs in mitigating its carbon emissions. Despite this, the country is progressively phasing out the use of unabated coal in its electricity mix by 2050. As the only country in ASEAN to implement carbon tax, Singapore is looking to raise the rate further by 2030 to incentivize industries to decarbonize through renewables and improving energy efficiency.

Heat Pumps: Cleaner and More Energy Efficient  

Among the myriad energy-efficient options, heat pump technology is emerging as a ready option to address the global need for cleaner heating and cooling. They are much better for the environment than boilers and furnaces. While boilers and furnaces rely on burning fossil fuels, heat pumps run on electricity, thus decarbonizing the heating process when paired with renewable energy.

In addition, heat pumps “transfer” thermal energy through a compression/expansion process of refrigerants, instead of “generating” more thermal energy through fuel combustion. Hence heat pumps are able to transform “waste heat” produced in industrial processes to high-value heat that can be used elsewhere in the process or sold for other uses.

Broadly speaking, a heat pump operates on the same physical principles of a refrigeration system. Key components in both systems include elements such as compressors and heat exchangers. The difference is that a heat pump produces hot water as the main output instead of chilled water. Also, as it is really transferring heat, a heat pump can thus offer both heating and cooling options. 

Heat pumps can be applied in many industries where hot water is used, such as in food production, brewery, meat processing, semiconductor, manufacturing, petrol refinery and hotels. They are also used in the dehumidification process for air handling unit (AHU) in processing rooms, clean rooms and the heating process for pulp and paper. In general, heat pumps are three to four times more energy efficient than boilers and furnaces.

Another great application of heat pumps is to address energy security issue associated with wind- and solar-based utility systems: the variability of the energy supply caused by fluctuating winds and sunlight. Heat pump models can be designed to store extra energy as heat underground and saving it for when the windmill or solar panels are unable to keep up with energy demands. 

Gaining Foothold in Asia Pacific

The adoption of heat pumps varies across Asia Pacific. In Southeast Asia, the technology is under-utilized as boilers have been the traditional source of heating for commercial and industrial sectors. Without a strict carbon taxation policy, industries are not driven to switch to heat pumps. Furthermore, buildings and industrial plants are usually designed with boilers, rather than heat pumps process, as the solution to meet cooling and heating demands. More can be done to reduce the inclusion of boilers as much as possible in process designs and specifications needs. Under certain instances where a high temperature (>100°C) superheated steam is needed, say for pasteurizing purposes, a more sustainable approach could be to combine a heat pump with a small secondary boiler to generate the remaining heat requirement.

The use of heat pumps are more widespread in other parts of Asia. For instance, the food and beverage industries in Australia and New Zealand have been using heat pumps since 2018. Some meat processing plants in New Zealand’s packaged meat industry, for example, are using heat pumps to replace the use of inefficient direct coal-fired boilers. It is estimated that these heat pumps will emit 90% less CO2 than the coal boilers, or about a reduction of about 18,000 metric ton of CO2 each year.

Likewise in China, more food production companies are adopting heat pump technology. A major beverage maker is using ammonia-refrigerant heat pumps in its plants that use waste water to generate 80°C hot water for its production process.

Frick® High Pressure Screw (HPS) Heat Pump Using Ammonia Refrigerant

More commercial buildings and industries in China are installing heat pumps within the facilities. The Beijing Municipal Administrative Center in China (shown in Figure 2) is an example of a low-carbon, efficient and reliable large-scale district heating and cooling system. In a single four-month heating season, the heat pump system replaces 12 million cubic meters of natural gas consumption, or the equivalent of a reduction of 40,000 metric ton in CO2 emissions. The technology provides efficient central heating for a 960,000 square meters-space using geothermal energy.

A geothermal heat-pump system provides heating and cooling in the low-carbon Beijing Municipal Administrative Center

Johnson Controls Sets the Pace for Heat Pumps

There is growing global demand for a 360-degree net zero carbon solution. Businesses, government and global coalitions have all set ambitious sustainability goals over the next two decades, with many aspiring for decarbonization by 2030. These have spurred the switch to heat pumps in commercial buildings, factories and public facilities across the globe. Heat pumps could satisfy 80% of global heating and cooling needs with a lower carbon footprint than boilers using fossil fuels.

Johnson Controls, a global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, is taking the lead to promote sustainability through the use of heat pumps. The company has developed a new series of heat pumps that uses HFO refrigerant which meets regulatory and industry requirements for low GWP gas, and caters for higher hot water temperature output conditions. 

Together with Johnson Controls OpenBlue platform, digitalization is another key enabler for companies and organizations to achieve net zero by 2050 or earlier. Getting equipment connected to the cloud with analytics for optimization will help drive better energy efficiency improvement and corresponding cut in carbon emissions. For instance, by collecting and analyzing data on the running cycle of cold storage in industrial refrigeration to determine the low and high peak seasons, facilities managers are able to make forecasts on energy consumption and optimize the performance of the plants. 

In the drive towards reduction of CO2 emission to achieve a net zero goal in ASEAN and across Asia, heat pumps are integral to ensuring a sustainable future. 

The article was first published on Industrial Automation Asia.