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The ammonia-water hybrid absorption-compression heat pump (HACHP) is a relevant technology for industrial heat supply, especially for high sink temperatures and high temperature glides in the sink and source. This is due to the reduced vapour pressure and the non-isothermal phase change of the zeotropic mixture, ammonia-water. To evaluate to which extent these advantages can be translated into feasible heat pump solutions, the working domain of the HACHP is investigated based on technical and economic constraints. The HACHP working domain is compared to that of the best possible vapour compression heat pump with natural working fluids. This shows that the HACHP increases the temperature lifts and heat supply temperatures that are feasible to produce with a heat pump. The HACHP is shown to be capable of delivering heat supply temperatures as high as 140 XC and temperature lifts up to 60 K, all with economical benefits for the investor.

A large amount of operational and economic constraints limit the applicability of heat pumps operated with natural working fluids. The limitations are highly dependent on the integration of heat source and sink streams. An evaluation of feasible operating conditions is carried out considering the constraints of available refrigeration equipment and a requirement of a positive Net Present Value of the investment. The considered sink outlet temperature range is from 40 °C to 140 °C, but for the heat pumps considered in this paper, the upper limit is 100 °C. Five heat pumps are studied. For each set of heat sink and source temperatures the optimal solution is determined. At low sink temperature glide R717 heat pumps show best performance, while at higher sink glide transcritical R744 may become important. In a second paper, the results of the VCHP are compared to a similar study considering the ammonia-water absorption-compression heat pump.