Energy, Environmental, and Economic Feasibility Assessment of Solar Adsorption Cooling System Under Different Climate Conditions in China

Abstract

The ever-increasing cooling demands in China give rise to huge impact on power grid and lead to massive CO₂ emissions, exacerbating ecological issues, such as global warming. It is urgent to develop clean, environmental friendly, and low-carbon refrigeration technology to achieve decarbonization in the cooling process. This work aims to evaluate the application potential of a solar adsorption cooling (SADC) system based on a novel aluminophosphate adsorbent in various climatic zones of China through TRNSYS simulation. For a comprehensive evaluation, solar absorption cooling (SABC) and vapor compression cooling systems are selected as reference systems. Energy, environment, and economy analyses of SADC are conducted in 12 representative Chinese cities. The results show that the studied solar adsorption system outperforms in energy conservation and emission reduction, particularly in hotter zones, where it can save up to 23% of primary energy and reduce at most 46% of CO₂ emission per year compared to vapor compression cycle. Meanwhile, the system demonstrates strong economic benefits and market competitiveness in hotter zones. Moreover, the proposed system shows higher energy efficiency and faster response speed than SABC system, especially in zones with moderate solar energy resources. The performances make the proposed system a practical alternative to realize near-zero-carbon refrigeration powered by renewable energy.