Performance investigation of engine waste heat powered absorption cycle cooling system for shipboard applications

Limited energy supply and high energy cost impose pressures on ships to improve the energy efficiency, which will reduce the fuel consumption. In addition, there is attention on reduction of global CO2 emissions due to the climate change and emission regulations. Therefore, a waste heat powered absorption cycle (ABC) cooling system for shipboard application is modeled and simulated under transient ambient conditions. The ABC, waste heat recovery system and living space are modeled in details and validated. The system is compared with a vapor compression cycle cooling system. Simulation results indicate the waste heat powered cooling system has an electricity-input based coefficient of performance (COP) of 9.4, compared to 3.6 of the baseline. Also, the fuel consumption and CO2 emission of the waste heat powered cooling system alone is 62% less than that of the baseline. The cooling system performances are then investigated under different climates. It is concluded that hotter conditions are in favor of fuel savings and CO2 emission reductions. •Waste heat powered absorption cycle is designed to meet a cargo ship cooling demand.•Its system is modeled in detail and validated against experimental data.•The system is simulated in several different climates.•The performance and CO2 emission reduction potentials are investigated.