High-temperature chemical heat pump based on reversible catalytic reactions of cyclohexane-dehydrogenation/benzene-hydrogenation: Comparison of the potentialities of different flow diagrams

The authors compare various flow diagrams for high temperature chemical heat pumps (HTCHP) based on the reversible cyclohexane-dehydrogenation/benzene-hydrogenation reactions. A new technological flow diagram for HTCHP is suggested. The peculiarity of this diagram is a multipurpose use of hydrogen-permeable membranes. A comparative thermodynamic analysis of the flow diagrams under consideration is undertaken in order to examine the influence of various factors on the heat efficiency and coefficient of performance of the heat pump. It is shown that the use of the hydrogen-permeable membranes in principle allows one to improve the performance of the HTCHPs and to extend the field of their application in comparison with the HTCHPs based on the flow diagrams suggested earlier.