New solar heat pump system cuts operating costs 56%, carbon emissions 44% vs. gas boilers

South Korean researchers have developed a heat supply solution that cuts carbon emissions by 44% and operating costs by more than 56% compared with conventional gas boilers.

A research team led by Park Chang-dae, a senior researcher at the Carbon Neutrality Machinery Research Institute under the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, developed iTOP, an optimal design platform for industrial heat supply facilities, and SoHProtes, a solar heat pump-based industrial heat supply system, completing field demonstrations at actual industrial sites. The team installed a 300-kilowatt system at a food processing factory in Gimpo and operated it for more than a year to verify its real-world applicability.

iTOP is a design platform that simultaneously compares and analyzes more than 21 types of heat supply equipment when users enter conditions such as the facility's location, site area, required temperature, heat consumption, availability of waste heat and load patterns. It performs dynamic performance simulations and economic analyses covering gas boilers, electric boilers, electrode boilers, heat pumps, solar thermal systems and combined heat and power facilities, then delivers optimal equipment combinations and process design results.

SoHProtes is an industrial heat supply system that uses solar thermal collectors as the heat source for a high-temperature heat pump. It can supply thermal energy at 60 degrees Celsius or above even at sites with little or no waste heat. During periods of low solar irradiance, it applies hybrid control linking a thermal storage tank with the heat pump, enabling stable heat supply throughout the year.

Most industrial sites currently rely on fossil fuel-based boilers, and objective tools for selecting heat equipment suited to each facility's specific conditions have been lacking. High-temperature heat pumps also require a sufficient heat source, but the scarcity of usable waste heat at many industrial sites has limited their adoption. The new technology's key differentiator is that it integrates a design platform with a heat supply system, linking optimal equipment selection to actual high-temperature heat delivery.

The technology can reduce the risks of over- or under-sizing heat equipment during installation and lower investment risk. iTOP uses data-driven analysis to recommend equipment types and capacities suited to a customer's conditions, allowing economic feasibility to be assessed in advance. SoHProtes stands apart from existing equipment by combining solar thermal energy with a heat pump to enable carbon-neutral heat supply even where waste heat is scarce.

Field demonstration results showed that SoHProtes can reduce carbon emissions by about 44% compared with conventional industrial gas boilers. Replacing a 1-tonne-per-hour gas boiler was found to cut more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and achieve a payback period of around three years.

"The demonstration confirmed that annual heat supply operating costs fell 53% compared with a conventional gas boiler after installation," Park said. "Building on these results, we are pursuing a spinoff company in 2026 and plan to further advance the design platform by incorporating AI technology."

The research findings were published in the international journals Energy Conversion and Management and Renewable Energy.