Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Experimental performance evaluation of a novel anti-fouling wastewater T

source heat pump system with a wastewater tower
⁎ ⁎⁎
Chao Shena, , Zhuoyu Leia, Guoquan Lva, Long Nia, , Shiming Dengb
a
School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin 150090, China
b
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

H I GH L IG H T S

• An anti-fouling WWSHP system with high efficiency and reliability was proposed.
• Working cycle of circulating air in the novel WWSHP system was analyzed detailly.
• The novel WWSHP system had an effective anti-fouling performance.
• Condensate from the evaporator was very clear in comparison to the sewage.
• Evaporator of the novel WWSHP system had very clean surface after 41-day test.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Using wastewater source heat pumps to recover heat from the sewage discharged from buildings could help
Heat recovery improve building energy utilization efficiency remarkably, which is a promising technology in near-zero energy
Energy efficiency buildings and should be widely used. However, fouling deposit would occur on a heat exchanger surface due to
Wastewater tower the poor water quality of wastewater, which would affect the heat transfer performance and may even block the
Anti-fouling
heat exchanger, reducing the reliability of a wastewater source heat pump unit. Fouling poses a challenge for the
Coefficient of performance
Wastewater source heat pump
wider application of wastewater source heat pumps. A novel anti-fouling wastewater source heat pump system
with a wastewater tower was proposed in this work and its operational performances were experimentally
investigated based on a long-term test of 41 days (492 h). Experimental results showed that the heat transfer rate
in the evaporator of the novel wastewater source heat pump was stable during the 41-day test at an average of
3.80 kW. Unlike in the evaporator of a conventional wastewater source heat pump unit, the total thermal re-
sistance in the evaporator of the novel wastewater source heat pump unit was not increased but only fluctuated
around an average of 0.0267 K m2/W throughout the entire 41 days test. The evaporating temperature of the
refrigerant stayed stable around an average of 2.74 °C. Furthermore, the coefficient of performance of the unit
was also stable at an average of 3.32 and the coefficient of performance of the system maintained an average of
2.13. The condensate drained away from the bottom of the evaporator did not contain any foulant. In addition,
the photos for the evaporator showed that its surface was still clean after the 41-day test. Therefore, the ex-
perimental results suggested that the novel wastewater source heat pump system not only had superior per-
formance of heat recovery but also achieved effective anti-fouling on its evaporator surfaces.

1. Introduction suggested as one of the energy-saving technologies, to reduce energy

Reducing the consumption of fossil energy [1], increasing the use of
renewable energy [2], the improvements in energy utilization tech-
nology [3], and various strategies for better energy utilization [4] have
become hot topics in recent years. Waste heat recovery have been
consumption and improve energy use efficiency. With the growing
awareness of the reduction in conventional fuel supply along with an
increasing cost of traditional energy sources, there have been lots of
research attention on the thermal energy contained in sewage water as
a possible alternative source for water heating in buildings. Heat

⁎
Corresponding author.
⁎⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: chaoshen@hit.edu.cn (C. Shen), nilonggn@163.com (L. Ni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.033
Received 26 September 2018; Received in revised form 5 December 2018; Accepted 6 December 2018
Available online 13 December 2018
0306-2619/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Shen et al.
Nomenclature
A Heat transfer area, m2
COPsys Coefficient of performance (COP) of a WWSHP system
COPunit Coefficient of performance (COP) of a WWSHP unit
c p, a Specific heat of air, kJ/(kg·K)
c p, w Specific heat of water, kJ/(kg·K)
cp, ww Specific heat of wastewater, kJ/(kg·K)
h Enthalpy of circulating air, kJ/kg
he, in Enthalpy of circulating air at the inlet to evaporator, kJ/kg
he, out Enthalpy of circulating air at the outlet of evaporator, kJ/
kg
ht , in Enthalpy of circulating air at the inlet to wastewater
tower, kJ/kg
ht , out Enthalpy of circulating air at the outlet of wastewater
tower, kJ/kg
LMTD Logarithmic mean temperature difference, °C
Pe Evaporating pressure of refrigerant, kPa
Q Heat transfer rate, kW
Qc Heat transfer rate in a condenser, kW
Qe Heat transfer rate in an evaporator, kW
Q ww Heat transfer rate in the wastewater tower, kW
R Total thermal resistance of evaporator, m2·K/W
Ta Temperature of circulating air, °C
Ta, in Air temperature at evaporator inlet, °C
Ta, out Air temperature at evaporator outlet, °C
Tc, in Water temperature at condenser inlet, °C
Tc, out Water temperature at condenser outlet, °C
Te Evaporating temperature of refrigerant, °C
Tww, in Wastewater temperature at wastewater tower inlet, °C
recovery from wastewater (sewage) discharged from buildings using
wastewater source heat pumps (WWSHP) was a promising technology
in near-zero energy buildings, which was considered as a viable alter-
native to conventional heating based on fossil fuels and had attractive
performance characteristics when designed and installed properly.
Currently, while heat recovery is widely seen in building energy sys-
tems, a series of requirements have been proposed for its broader ap-
plication, such as the improvement in the performance and reliability,
the simplification in the system structure, the reduction in the initial
costs.
Hepbasli reviewed the development of WWSHP systems and pointed
out that the majority of the studies were conducted in China [5]. Shen
et al. reviewed the current research and application of WWSHP systems
in China and articles that published in Chinese [6]. Baek et al. studied
the design problems about a WWSHP system in 2005 [7]. Zhao et al.
reported the operational performances of a WWSHP system that con-
sisted of a filth block device, a wastewater heat exchanger (WWHEX)
and other auxiliary equipment [8]. Liu et al. reported the design and
analysis of an exhaust air heat recovery system using heat pumps in
public shower facilities [9]. Wu et al. studied the characteristics of soft-
fouling on heat-exchanging pipes in a WWSHP system, and conducted
the technical and economic analysis of raising sewage temperature
when using the WWSHP system during the sewage disposal process
[10]. Shen studied the performance of WWSHP that took waste bath
water as a heat source [11]. Shen et al. also experimentally compared
two different types of WWHEXs, both of which can be used in a WWSHP
system [12]. In previous studies, it was concluded that efficient utili-
zation of the thermal energy of wastewater depended on an appropriate
design and/or selection of WWHEX used in WWSHPs [13].
Sewage (wastewater) contains a great deal of foulant that can easily
deposit on the heat exchanger surface, resulting in poor heat transfer
performance and blocking heat exchangers, thus the operational relia-
bility can be very low for conventional WWSHPs and periodic cleaning
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Tww, out Wastewater temperature at wastewater tower outlet, °C
Utot Total heat transfer coefficient of evaporator, W/m2·K
Va Air volumetric flowrate through evaporator, m3/s
Vw Hot water volumetric flowrate through condenser, m3/s
Vww Wastewater volumetric flowrate through wastewater
tower, m3/s
W Moisture content of circulating air, g/kg
Wa, in Moisture content of circulating air at the inlet to eva-
porator, g/kg
Wa, out Moisture content of circulating air at the outlet of eva-
porator, g/kg
Wcom Power input to compressor, kW
Wfan Power input to fan, kW
Wpum Power input to pump, kW
Wtot Power input to the entire WWSHP system, kW
Greek symbols
ρw Density of water, kg/m3
ρww Density of wastewater, kg/m3
ρa Density of air, kg/m3
Abbreviations
HWT Hot water tank
WWHEX Wastewater heat exchanger
WWSHP Wastewater source heat pump
WWT Wastewater tank
work is required. It was observed that the efficiency of WWSHPs was
5–10% lower with a fouled heat exchanger at all test conditions [14].
Diaz-Bejarano et al. put forward a comprehensive model-based thermo-
hydraulic methodology to investigate fouling behavior in refinery heat
exchangers and a high concentration of inorganics in the deposits was
found [15]. Zhang et al. investigated the water quality of sewage and
found the foulant in a sewage drainage canal had a total concentration
of 2.629 kg/m3 [16]. Sun et al. [17] studied the thermal resistance due
to fouling on the inner surface of tubes used in WWHEXs. It was found
that it took approximately 350 h for the thermal resistance to reach
stable value [18], and that the thermal resistance of the heat ex-
changers used for recovering heat from sewage was increased from
2.1 × 10−4 m2 K/W to 14.2 × 10−4 m2 K/W when water velocity was
reduced from 2.78 m/s to 0.87 m/s [19]. Shen et al. [20] investigated
the fouling on the surface of a heat exchanger used in waste bath water
and found that the thermal resistance due to fouling arrived at a stable
value after 25 days. Furthermore, it was suggested that the optimum
time to clean a fouled heat exchanger was when the fouling resistance
reached 2.5 × 10−4 m2 K/W [21]. Shen et al. [22] also tested the
fouling process in a heat exchanger that recovering heat from waste-
water discharged from a pig farm. Results showed that the fouling re-
sistance changed exponentially with the operation time, and the
asymptotic fouling thermal resistance was 0.72 × 10−3 m2 K/W at the
wastewater velocity of 0.31 m/s, 0.52 × 10−3 m2 K/W at 0.46 m/s.
Currently, fouling on WWHEXs can be dealt with a conservative design
(e.g., oversized heat exchanger), stream treatment and periodic
cleaning, as summarized by Shen et al. [6]. However, all current anti-
fouling methods have various drawbacks, such as low de-fouling effi-
ciency, poor operational reliability and high energy consumption.
Fouling and blocking of WWHEXs remained a serious problem severely
affecting the operational reliability and energy efficiency of WWSHPs.
In order to solve the problem of fouling, a novel anti-fouling
WWSHP system, which is expected to thoroughly avoid the fouling
C. Shen et al.
deposit on the evaporator surface, has been proposed. In this paper, the
anti-fouling performances of the novel WWSHP system are reported
following a long-term test of 41 days.
2. Experimental set-up
2.1. Experimental prototype of the novel anti-fouling WWSHP system
The key part of this novel anti-fouling WWSHP system (see Fig. 1)
was a wastewater tower with its details given in Fig. 2. The heat in the
wastewater was extracted by air in the wastewater tower. As shown, the
wastewater was sprayed from the top of the tower and flowed down-
wards along spiral baffles inside the tower. On the other hand, circu-
lating air entered the tower from the bottom and flowed upwards also
along the spiral baffles. During the counter flow between wastewater
and air inside the tower, a part of the wastewater was evaporated into
the circulating air stream, so the latent heat transfer from wastewater to
the circulating air took place. Meanwhile, sensible heat transfer be-
tween wastewater and circulating air due to temperature difference
occurred as well. As known, the heat of vaporization of water is
2432 kJ/kg at 28 °C, which is much larger than the specific heat of
water at 4.2 kJ/(kg·K) and the specific heat of air at 1.005 kJ/(kg·K).
The experimental results indicated that the latent heat transfer through
water evaporation would therefore account for 72% of the total heat
transfer in the wastewater tower. During the evaporating process of
wastewater in the wastewater tower, heat was transported from was-
tewater to circulating air, but foulant remained in the wastewater.
Therefore, the circulating air was still clean, and fouling deposit on the
Level
controller
M
T
T
M HWT
Flowmeter
Solenoid
valve Filter
Electric heater
T Fan
T
T B
WWT Flowmeter
Fig. 1. The schematics of the novel WWSHP system.
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Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699
evaporator surface was avoided when absorbing heat from the circu-
lating air.
In order to investigate the anti-fouling performances of this novel
WWSHP system, an experimental prototype for the novel system was
built in a laboratory. The schematics of the novel WWSHP system are
shown in Fig. 1. The photo of the experimental prototype is shown in
Fig. 3, which mainly consisted of four loops: a wastewater loop, a cir-
culating air loop, a refrigerant loop, and a hot water loop.
In the wastewater loop, warm sewage from a wastewater tank
(WWT) was pumped to the top of the wastewater tower, and flowed
down to the bottom of the wastewater tower after exchanging heat with
circulating air. The bottom of the wastewater tower was connected to
the WWT, thus cold sewage flowed back to the WWT due to the level
difference between WWT and the wastewater tower. Two electric
heaters were installed in the WWT to maintain a preset temperature for
sewage.
In the circulating air loop, a fan was installed at the inlet to the
wastewater tower to circulate the air in this closed loop at a required
velocity. Circulating air extracted both sensible heat and latent heat in
the wastewater tower, then released them in the evaporator to complete
the heat transport from wastewater to refrigerant. On the other hand, a
part of the wastewater was evaporated into circulating air stream in the
wastewater tower and then water vapor was condensed on the surface
of the evaporator. A drainage pan was installed below the evaporator to
collect the condensate which was discharged back into the WWT
through a pipe.
In the refrigerant loop, which was basically the WWSHP unit, the
heat obtained from the circulating air in the evaporator was used to
WWSHP unit
Compressor
Condenser
Expansion valve
P
Evaporator
T Pressure sensor
C A
T/H
T/H T/H
Wastewater
tower
V
Air
velocity
sensor
T
Temperature/humidity sensor
C. Shen et al.
Fig. 2. Details of the wastewater tower used in the novel WWSHP system.
Fig. 3. Photo of the experimental prototype of the novel WWSHP system.
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Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699
heat clean water circulated through the condenser which was a plate
heat exchanger. In the hot water loop, there was a hot water tank
(HWT), with the size of 530 mm (L) × 530 mm (W) × 700 mm (H). Hot
water flowed out from the top of the HWT as controlled by a hot water
temperature controller and cold tap water entered the HWT from the
bottom as controlled by a water level controller. When the hot water in
the HWT was heated up to the upper limit of a preset temperature
range, it would be discharged from the top. At the same time, cold tap
water was supplied into the HWT from the bottom. When the hot water
temperature dropped to the lower limit of the preset temperature range,
the solenoid valve on the discharging pipe of hot water would be closed,
and the next water heating cycle was started.
2.2. Instrumentation
The operating parameters of the novel WWSHP system were mon-
itored during the long-term test. The temperatures of the wastewater in
the WWT and at the bottom of wastewater tower, the temperatures of
the hot water at the inlet/outlet of the condenser, and the temperature
of hot water in the HWT were monitored by RTD temperature sensors
with an accuracy of ±0.022 °C after calibration. The temperature and
relative humidity of the circulating air at the inlet/outlet of the was-
tewater tower and the evaporator were measured by integrated tem-
perature-humidity sensors at the accuracy of ± 0.1 °C for temperature
and ± 2.0%RH for relative humidity. An anemometer with the accu-
racy of ±0.1 m/s was used to measure the velocity of circulating air.
The wastewater flowrate was measured by an electromagnetic flow-
meter at an accuracy of ± 0.5% and the hot water flowrate through the
condenser by a turbine flowmeter with an accuracy of ± 1.0%. The
power input to the entire WWSHP system was measured by a wattmeter
with an accuracy of ±0.5%. The air velocity through the wastewater
tower can be varied by adjusting the fan equipped with a frequency
convertor. A pressure transmitter with an accuracy of ±0.25% was
employed to monitor the refrigerant pressure at the outlet of the eva-
porator, which was considered as the evaporating pressure. All sensors
were connected to a data logger.
2.3. The sewage used in the test
The sewage collected from a residential district located in Harbin
City of China was used as the sewage source (see Fig. 4) for the eva-
luation of anti-fouling performance of this novel WWSHP. As seen from
Fig. 4, it was very miry, containing lots of foulant. The size distribution
of foulant contained in the sewage is given in Fig. 5. It can be seen that
the size of foulant in the sewage ranged from 2 μm to 700 μm, centering
at 60 μm. The dry matter concentration of sewage was 366 mg/L.
3. Test procedures and test data reductions
3.1. Test procedures
As for a conventional WWSHP system, its performance would de-
teriorate along with the growth of fouling on its WWHEX. In earlier
related studies, Shen et al. [20] used waste bath water as the heat
source for performance test on a WWSHP system and test results sug-
gested that during a 30-day long test, the daily averaged evaporating
temperature gradually dropped from 11.4 °C to 9.4 °C, and the daily
averaged heat transfer capacity of the WWHEX in the WWSHP system
decreased from 8.2 kW to 5.8 kW, and the daily averaged COP of the
WWSHP system decreased from 3.09 to 2.50, due to the fouling deposit
on the WWHEX surface. Shen et al. [22] also tested a WWHEX that used
the wastewater discharged from a pig farm. The test results showed that
the fouling resistance changed exponentially with the time, and the
asymptotic fouling thermal resistance was 0.72 × 10−3 m2 K/W at a
wastewater velocity of 0.31 m/s, 0.52 × 10−3 m2 K/W at 0.46 m/s. In
this study, the operating performance of the novel WWSHP was tested
C. Shen et al. Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699

representative data for that time segment. Four sets of averaged data
were therefore obtained each day, and a total of 164 sets of re-
presentative data were obtained during the entire 41 days test, which
were used to show the variation trends of a number of operating per-
formance parameters during the long-term test.

3.2. Data reduction

The operating performance parameters of the novel WWSHP system

were evaluated as follows.

3.2.1. The heat transfer rate in the condenser, Qc

The heat transfer rate in the condenser indicated the heating ca-
pacity of the novel WWSHP system, which was evaluated by Eq. (1).
Qc = Vw ρw cp, w (Tc, out − Tc, in ) (1)

3.2.2. The heat transfer rate in the evaporator, Qe

As known, once fouling was deposited on the surface of an eva-
porator, its heat transfer rate would decrease. Therefore, the variation
in the heat transfer rate in the evaporator can be used to reflect the
variation of fouling resistance. Heat transfer rate in the evaporator can
Fig. 4. Photo of test sewage.
be evaluated by Eqs. (2) and (3). It is noted that the condensate drained
away from the evaporator still contained thermal energy which was lost
after being discharged from the system. Therefore, this part of thermal
energy should be excluded while evaluating the heat transfer rate of the
evaporator, as given in the second item of Eq. (2).
Qe = Va ρa (he, in − he, out ) − 0.001Va ρa cp, w (Wa, in − Wa, out ) Te (2)

h = 1.01Ta + 0.001W (2500 + 1.84Ta) (3)

3.2.3. The heat transfer rate in the wastewater tower, Qww

The heat transfer rate in the wastewater tower was an import
parameter to evaluate the performance of heat recovery, which was
calculated by Eq. (4).
Q ww = Vww ρww cp, ww (Tww, in − Tww, out ) (4)

3.2.4. The COPs of the novel WWSHP system

The performance of this novel WWSHP system was evaluated by
both COPunit which was based on the power input to the compressor and
COPsys which was based on the total power inputs to the entire system,
Fig. 5. Size distribution of foulant in the test sewage.
as follows.
COPunit = Qc / Wcom (5)
continuously for 41 days, or a total of 492 h assuming 12 h operation
per day, to investigate its anti-fouling performance. The key system COPsys = Qc / Wtot (6)
parameters used to estimate the fouling growth were analyzed based on
the test data, including COPsys (Coefficient of performance of a WWSHP Wtot = Wcom + Wpum + Wfan (7)
system), COPunit (Coefficient of performance of a WWSHP unit), Q ww and
Qe , and R . During the 41-day long-term test, the operation conditions of
3.2.5. Evaporating temperature, Te
the novel WWSHP system were stable, as listed in Table 1.
As known, once fouling was deposited on an evaporator’s surface,
The novel WWSHP system was operated from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM
the evaporating temperature of refrigerant went down, thus a decrease
each day, and the operating parameters were recorded at the interval of
in the evaporating temperature was a good indicator of fouling growth.
20 s continuously for 41 days, thus a total of 492-hour test data were
In this study, R134a was used as the refrigerant fluid. As known, for
recorded. To simplify data processing, the data collected during each
each evaporating pressure, only one corresponding evaporating tem-
continuous 3-hour period was grouped as one segment, and the average
perature is existed. Thus, a linear relationship between the evaporating
of test data recorded in the last 10 min of each segment was used as the
temperature and the evaporating pressure of R134a was found around

Table 1
Operation conditions for the long-term test for the novel WWSHP system.
Parameter Wastewater temperature Hot water preset temperature Wastewater flowrate Circulating air flowrate Hot water flowrate through the condenser
°C °C m3/h m3/h m3/h

Value 16.5 40± 1.5 1.81 550 0.96

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C. Shen et al. Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699

0 °C, as given in Eq. (8). The evaporating temperature was obtained by The working cycle of the circulating air was plotted using the test
converting the measured evaporating pressure to evaporating tem- data at the inlets/outlets of the wastewater tower, the evaporator and
perature through Eq. (8). the fan, as shown in Fig. 7. As seen, the moisture content of the cir-
Te = 0.088Pe − 25.691 (8) culating air in the wastewater tower was increased from 6.7 g/kg to
11.6 g/kg, and the relative humidity of the circulating air increased
from 83% to 96%. The moisture content in the evaporator was reduced
3.2.6. Total thermal resistance of the evaporator, R from 11.6 g/kg to 6.7 g/kg, and the relative humidity from 96% to 85%.
The total thermal resistance of the evaporator, including the In Fig. 7, it can also be found that the enthalpy reduction in the eva-
thermal resistances on both air side and refrigerant side, and the con- porator was equal to the sum of the enthalpy increases in the waste-
ductive thermal resistances of both the tube wall and fouling (if any), water tower and due to the fan heat gain. The temperature drop in the
was evaluated by Eq. (9), where the total heat transfer coefficient (Utot ) evaporator was equal to the sum of the temperature increases in the
was evaluated by Eqs. (10) and (11). wastewater tower and due to fan heat gain.
Assuming there was no heat loss during the heat transfer process in In Fig. 8, as seen, it took 35 min to complete one water heating cycle
the evaporator, the amount of heat released by the circulating air at the operation conditions in Table 1. The hot water temperatures at
should be equal to the heat transfer rate through the tube wall and fins the inlet and outlet of the condenser (Tc, in and Tc, out ) fluctuated peri-
driven by temperature difference between the refrigerant and air, thus odically, and the temperature difference between Tc, in and Tc, out was
Eq. (10) was obtained. The logarithmic mean temperature difference stable at 3.0 °C. The highest hot water temperature at the outlet of the
(LMTD) between the refrigerant and the air was calculated by Eq. (11). condenser was 45.5 °C. The temperatures of the wastewater entering
The heat transfer area of the evaporator was 10 m2. and leaving the wastewater tower (Tww, in and Tww, out ) did not change
1 much during the test, and the temperature difference between Tww, in and
R= Tww, out was 1.4 °C in average. Correspondingly, the heat transfer rate in
Utot (9)
the wastewater tower (Q ww ) was stable at an average value of 2.88 kW.
Qe The average heat transfer rate in the condenser (Qc ) was 3.39 kW.
Utot =
A∙LMTD (10) Fig. 9 presents the variations in the evaporating temperature of the
refrigerant. Results suggested that along with the fluctuation in the hot
(Ta, in − Te ) − (Ta, out − Te )
LMTD = water temperature, the evaporating temperature varied between
ln ( Ta, in − Te
Ta, out − Te ) (11)
2.14 °C and 3.53 °C with an average of 2.79 °C. Fig. 10 shows the values
of COPunit and COPsys . As seen, the average COPunit was 3.35 and the
As mentioned in Section 3.1, the average value of the 30 sets of data average COPsys was 2.15 at initial clean condition. For the total power
recorded in the last 10 min of each time segment were processed by Eqs. input to the novel WWSHP system, the power input to the compressor
(12)–(14), and a total of 164 sets of data were obtained to plot the accounted for 64.4%, while that to the wastewater pump, the hot water
variation curves for these key operating parameters. pump, and the fan for 35.6%, which was high and should be reduced.
N This might be accomplished by further structure optimization of the
∑i = 1 Te, i
T¯e = system and COPsys could be raised.
30 (12)
N
∑i = 1 Qi 4.2. Anti-fouling performance
Q¯ =
30 (13)
The performance of the experimental WWSHP system was mon-
N itored continuously during the 41-day test, and monitoring results are
∑i = 1 COPi
¯ =
COP shown in Figs. 11, 13, 15 and 17, which are compared with previous
30 (14)
corresponding data of conventional WWSHPs reported by others shown
in Figs. 12, 14, 16, and 18.
4. Results and discussions
4.2.1. The heat transfer rate in the evaporator, Qe
4.1. The performance of the novel WWSHP system at initial clean condition As shown in Fig. 11, Qe fluctuated between 3.69 kW and 3.98 kW

In order to detect the growth of fouling on the evaporator’s surface,

the performance of the novel WWSHP system at its initial clean con-
dition were tested for 116 min continuously, covering 3 complete water
heating cycles, and the test data were taken as the base for performance
comparison in the long-term test, to see whether fouling occurred or
not. The test conditions are given in Table 1, and the test results are
shown in Figs. 6–10.
As shown in Fig. 6, during the 116-minute long test, ht , out did not
change much and was almost the same as he, in with an average of
45.71 kJ/kg. he, out and ht , in did not fluctuate much in the three water
heating cycles. As seen, the average for ht , in was 27.77 kJ/kg which was
higher than that of he, out of 26.61 kJ/kg due to the fan heat gain. The
enthalpy of the circulating air was increased by 17.94 kJ/kg in the
wastewater tower, but decreased by 19.1 kJ/kg in the evaporator. An
energy analysis of circulating air suggested that the heat discharged by
the circulating air in the evaporator included: (a) the heat obtained in
the wastewater tower; (b) the fan heat gain, and (c) the heat transferred
into the circulating air through the air duct wall from surrounding air.
Therefore, the enthalpy drop of the circulating air in the evaporator was Fig. 6. The variations in the enthalpy of the circulating air at the inlets and
higher than the enthalpy rise in the wastewater tower. outlets of the wastewater tower and evaporator.

695
C. Shen et al.
Fig. 7. The working cycle of the circulating air on a psychometric chart.
Fig. 8. The temperature variations of the wastewater and hot water.
Fig. 9. The variations in the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant.
with an average of 3.80 kW, at the operation conditions shown in
Table 1. There were two possible causes for the fluctuations: one was
the fluctuation in the supply power voltage for the fan, leading to the
fluctuation in the circulating air flowrate; the other was the low mea-
suring sensitivity of the anemometer, causing deviations of the test data
when the air velocity was fluctuating. Considering the statistical sig-
nificance of the long-term test data, the non-decrease trend shown in
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Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699
Fig. 10. The variations in the COPs of the novel WWSHP system at initial clean
condition.
Fig. 11. The variations in the heat transfer rate in the evaporator.
Fig. 12. The variations in the heat transfer rate in a WWHEX in a 300-hour test
[20].
Fig. 11 could reflect that no fouling was deposited on the evaporator
surface. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 12, the test data previously
reported for a conventional WWSHP system [20] suggested that the
daily averaged heat transfer rate in its evaporator used in waste bath
water dropped from 8.2 kW to 5.8 kW or 29.3% reduction over a period
of one-month test, demonstrating a remarkable negative effect of the
fouling on the heat transfer rate. The comparison between Figs. 11 and
12 showed that the heat transfer rate in the evaporator of the novel
C. Shen et al. Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699

Fig. 16. The variations in the evaporating temperature in a 30-day test in an

earlier study [20].

Fig. 13. The variations in the total thermal resistance in the evaporator of the
novel WWSHP system.

Fig. 17. The variations in COPs of the novel WWSHP system during the 41-day
test.

Fig. 14. The variations in the fouling resistance at different wastewater velo-
cities in an earlier study [22].

Fig. 18. The variations in the COP of a conventional WWSHP system during its
31 days test in an earlier study [11].

4.2.2. The total thermal resistance in the evaporator, R

Fig. 15. The variations in the evaporating temperature in the novel WWSHP
system.
WWSHP system remained fairly stable during the long-term test, re-
flecting that no fouling was built up due to its effective anti-fouling
performance.
Fig. 13 presents the variations in the total thermal resistance in the
evaporator, R , during the 492-hour long test. The results suggested that
the total thermal resistance, R , fluctuated around an average of
0.0267 K m2/W, which did not increase during the entire test. It was
noted that at initial clean condition, the total thermal resistance, R , was
0.0266 K m2/W. However, after 41-day operation, R was at
0.0268 K m2/W, indicating that no fouling was deposited on the eva-
porator surface. On the other hand, Fig. 12 shows the results of an early
study [22], where three variation profiles for the fouling thermal re-
sistances on a WWHEX at three different wastewater velocities, were
obtained after a 35-day test. As seen, a lower water velocity led to a

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C. Shen et al.
Fig. 19. The variations in the heat transfer rate in the wastewater tower in the
novel WWSHP system.
Fig. 20. The photo of the evaporator surface at the end of the 41-day test.
Fig. 21. The photo of the condensate collected from the evaporator.
greater R value and vice versa. At the end of the 31-day test, R was
1.1 × 10−3 K m2/W at a low water velocity, 0.59 × 10−3 K m2/W at a
medium velocity and 0.22 × 10−3 K m2/W at a high velocity. There-
fore, the comparing results in Figs. 13 and 14 also demonstrated that no
additional thermal resistance due to fouling was detected on the eva-
porator surface in this novel WWSHP system.
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Applied Energy 236 (2019) 690–699
4.2.3. The evaporating temperature of the refrigerant in the evaporator, Te
As known, fouling growth on the evaporator surface would result in
a decrease in the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant. The var-
iations in the evaporating temperature measured during the long-term
test are shown in Fig. 15. As seen, the evaporating temperature re-
mained virtually steady during the 41-day test. The evaporating tem-
perature was maintained within a range of 2.52–2.93 °C with an
average of 2.74 °C. However, as seen in Fig. 16, the daily averaged
evaporating temperature of the refrigerant in an earlier study [20] was
at 11.4 °C at initial clean conditions, which was decreased to 9.4 °C after
30 days due to the growth of fouling on its WWHEX surface.
4.2.4. Cops of the novel WWSHP
Both COPsys and COPunit were monitored in the 41 days long-term
test, and the results are given in Fig. 17. As seen, COPsys and COPunit of
the novel WWSHP system were stable during the 41-day test with an
averaged COPunit of 3.32 and an averaged COPsys of 2.13, reflecting its
effective anti-fouling performance. However, the performance of a
conventional immersed-type WWSHP system was severely influenced
by fouling, as shown in Fig. 18 [11]. As seen, its COPsys had no obvious
variation in the first 5 days, which declined rapidly from 3.39 to 2.89 in
the following 20 days. During the last 8 days, it stayed also stable from
2.89 to 2.87.
4.2.5. The heat transfer rate in the wastewater tower
In the wastewater tower, the circulating air and the wastewater
were in direct contact for heat transfer. The latent heat transfer due to
the wastewater being evaporated into the circulating air was the main
heat transfer mechanism in the wastewater tower, thus the fouling on
the internal surface of the wastewater tower had no effect on its heat
transfer performance. The test results in Fig. 19 showed that the heat
transfer rate in the wastewater tower remained at an average value of
3.71 kW, but with a fluctuation range of 3.62 kW to 3.87 kW.
In order to examine directly whether fouling occurred on the eva-
porator or not, a photo for the evaporator’s surface was taken at the end
of the long-term test, as shown in Fig. 20. As seen, almost no obvious
fouling was deposited on the surface, suggesting that the heat transfer
mechanism in the wastewater tower of the novel WWSHP could prevent
the foulant in the wastewater from mixing into the circulating air
during the heat recovery process.
4.3. The quality of the condensate from the evaporator surface
The condensate discharged from a collecting pan under the eva-
porator was collected in a water bucket, as shown in Fig. 21. As seen, no
foulant could be seen in the condensate. By comparing the photo of the
condensate with that of the sewage water shown in Fig. 4, the con-
densate was very clear with high water quality, but the sewage water in
the WWT was very dirty and muddy. Therefore, fouling deposit on the
surface of the evaporator was avoided when the circulating air passing
through it. This ensured that the novel WWSHP had a high reliability
with a superior heat recovery performance.
5. Conclusions
A novel wastewater source heat pump system with a wastewater
tower was proposed in this study. In order to investigate its operation
performance, a prototype of this novel wastewater source heat pump
system was built in a laboratory. First, the performance of the novel
wastewater source heat pump system at its initial clean condition was
examined. Afterward, a long-term test of 41 days was conducted to
examine the effectiveness of its anti-fouling function. The following
conclusions might be drawn.
(1) The novel anti-fouling wastewater source heat pump system was
proven to have better performances in heat recovery from urban
C. Shen et al.
sewage water. At a wastewater temperature of 16 °C and a hot
water preset temperature of 40± 1.5°C , the heat transfer rate in
the wastewater tower was 2.88 kW and the heat transfer rate in the
condenser was 3.39 kW. The averaged coefficient of performance of
the unit was at 3.35 and the averaged coefficient of performance of
the system at 2.15.
(2) The power input to the compressor accounted for 64.4% of the total
power input to the system, while that to the wastewater pump, the
hot water pump, and the circulating fan for 35.6%. The coefficient
of performance of the system might be significantly improved if the
power input to the circulating air fan were reduced through opti-
mizing the configuration and/or size of the wastewater tower and
the match between the circulating air fan and the air duct.
(3) The measured performance data in the 41 days long-term test, in-
cluding heat transfer rate in the evaporator, the total thermal re-
sistance of the evaporator, the evaporating temperature of the re-
frigerant, the COPs of the novel WWSHP system, and the heat
transfer rate in the wastewater tower, suggested that the novel
WWSHP system had effective anti-fouling performance, which was
confirmed by the photos of the evaporator surface and the water
quality of the condensate.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding supports from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project#: 51606049)
and Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (Project#:
QC2017054).
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