Study 12: Very high-temperature heat pumps for industry

Heat pumps offer numerous advantages over competing technologies: the recovery of waste heat, high energy efficiency, and relatively low CO₂ emissions during operation. They are already part of a move towards the electrification of low- and even medium-temperature industrial thermal processes (typically between 60 and 90°C), and more generally towards the decarbonisation of industry. Furthermore, the price ratio between electricity and fossil fuels in France is generally favourable to the development of heat pumps in industrial settings.

Thanks to the latest technological advances, manufacturers are now able to offer Very High Temperature Heat Pumps (VHT Heat Pumps), which provide useful heat at temperatures in excess of 100°C for the production of hot air, steam or superheated water.

The aim of this market intelligence report is to provide an overview of high-temperature heat pump models capable of meeting the heating needs of industry:

• In the first part of this report, we briefly outline how heat pump systems work, provide an overview of the current availability of high-temperature heat pump systems (whilst endeavouring to be as comprehensive as possible), and present a note on the refrigerants used by these systems.
• In the second part, the review is extended to alternative heat pump technologies capable of achieving very high temperatures. These technologies are regarded as alternative because they do not operate according to the conventional thermodynamic cycle of heat pumps.