Heat pumps unlock the path for decarbonisation of low-grade heating processes

Hakim Nesreddine
Hydro-Quebec-Energy Technology Laboratory, 600 Avenue de la montagne, Shawinigan (QC) G9N 7N5, Canada
email : nesreddine.hakim@hydroquebec.com
Biography Hakim Nesreddine is currently an R&D project leader at Hydro-Quebec, a major Canadian electric utility. He is a holder of a BSc in climate control engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering. He also earned a Master of Business administration (MBA) with a concentration in project management. Over the course of his career, he has acquired extensive experience in energy industry, both from a technical and business perspective. His expertise includes distributed power generation, waste heat recovery and energy conversion. During the last decade, Dr. Nesreddine led multidisciplinary teams dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies and applications in partnership with leading companies. His current projects focus on integrating sustainable solutions and implementing advanced control logic for demand flexibility to decarbonise buildings and industrial processes. He has made numerous scientific and technical contributions, including peer-reviewed research papers, chapter books and patents. During his career, he was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Sherbrooke where he has taught undergraduate courses in science/engineering and acted as an adviser to PhD candidates. He has given several plenary lectures at international conferences and has been a member of expert panels on green energy and energy efficiency. In addition, Dr. Nesreddine has served on the steering Committee of the Canada Green Building Council and has participated in numerous technical committees and working groups of the Canadian Standard Association (CSA).

Abstract
Given the magnitude of climate changes, reduction of GHG emissions and their environmental impacts has raised a global awareness. The strategy developed by many countries is based on the decarbonisation of the most polluting sectors by means of efficient electrification and energy efficiency. This transformation of the energy market can only be achieved with low-carbon sustainable technologies to reduce carbon footprint, particularly in buildings and industrial processes. In this respect, heat pumps are a good candidate to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels for low-grade heat generation.
The speech will provide an overview and a state of the art on heat pumps using natural refrigerants particularly carbon dioxide. An emphasis is put on concepts of integration and methods for improving performance by introducing passive components such as ejectors and vortex tubes.

Key words: Heat pumps, Transcritical Cycle, Natural refrigerants, Decarbonisation,