Air‐Source Heat Pump for Distributed Steam Generation: A New and Sustainable Solution to Replace Coal‐Fired Boilers in China

Abstract With the ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the use of coal‐fired boilers in China are being gradually restricted and removed from use to control air pollution and reduce CO 2 emissions. However, current alternatives to coal‐fired boilers such as gas‐fired boilers, electric boilers, biomass boilers, and solar boilers have obvious limitations and drawbacks that can limit the spread of their use. An air‐source heat pump boiler that can extract thermal energy from air and generate high‐temperature steam is proposed, developed, and verified. The air‐source heat pump boiler shows a stable system output with ambient temperature variations from 5 to 35 °C, with an energy efficiency as high as 150–210% to generate steam at more than 120 °C. Furthermore, by taking technical and economic analysis and carbon trading into consideration, air‐source heat pump boiler has shown significant application advantages than other boilers. This research shows that air‐source heat pump steam generation is feasible for replacing coal‐fired boilers in China and could be a sustainable steam generation method.