Development of polyolefin compound and post-polymerization treatments for ground heat exchangers

Abstract

A ground source heat pump (GSHP) system can be used for both cooling and heating modes simultaneously for commercial, industrial and residential buildings virtually at any location with great flexibility to cover a wide range of demands all around the world. Polyethylene (PE) has been used as the main raw material in production of the Ground Heat Exchangers (GHE). This paper briefly reviews the history of polyethylene and development in polymerization process with emphasis on the third-generation bimodal structure. The characteristics of PE pipes used in GSHP systems are discussed. This paper is devoted to a critical review on the attempts in post-polymerization treatments of the PE, and GHEs to improve the performance of the systems. The experimental and simulated comparisons show that the enhancement of the thermal conductivity of the material can reduce significantly the overall borehole thermal resistance.