Cool energy from waste heat
19th August 2026
SOUTH KOREA: A Korean research team has developed a chemical adsorption heat pump system powered by low-temperature waste heat.
The newly developed heating and cooling system uses waste heat as low as 40°C and features a noise- and vibration-free electrochemical compressor.
The research team also redesigned the adsorption bed, the core component of the heat pump, achieving a claimed specific cooling power of 346.5W/kg – more than twice the performance of comparable technologies.
The research team, led by Dr Young Kim, principal researcher at the Heat Pump Research Centre of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), developed the heat pump system in collaboration with Professor Minseong Kim and Professor Dongkyu Kim of Chung-Ang University.
With no mechanical moving parts, the electrochemical compressor promises reduced energy consumption while generating virtually no noise or vibration. This makes it well suited to hospitals, schools, residential areas, and other noise-sensitive environments.
Through collaboration with Chung-Ang University, KIMM also advanced the development of a large-area ammonia compressor,
“The most significant achievement of this research is the successful demonstration of cooling low-temperature waste heat at just 40°C from factories and data centres,” said Dr Young Kim.
“We are currently conducting demonstration tests with a 10kW-class prototype. Building on these tests, we plan to pursue further research to advance the technology for field demonstration.”
The research was supported by the Alchemist Project of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP).
