Optimising Sorption-Based Low-Grade Heat Recovery and Storage for Buildings and Industry
A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 May 2026 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editor
Interests: low-grade heat recovery; liquid desiccant technology; sorption technologies; energy-efficient temperature and humidity control; thermochemical energy storage; low-carbon manufacturing; techno-economic analyses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Waste heat is an abundant yet underutilised energy source across buildings and industry, especially in the low-temperature range below 100 °C where traditional conversion routes struggle. This Special Issue focuses on sorption-based climate control and sensible, latent and thermochemical energy storage and transport for low-grade heat recovery. Therefore, we invite contributions that deliver energy, emissions and cost savings through advances in heat and mass transfer, system integration, optimisation and control. The goal is to show how proven and innovative technologies can recover, store, move and control heat and moisture, and how these solutions fit into real systems, applications and markets.
We welcome the submission of studies that progress from component performance to deployable solutions. Papers are invited to show how technologies couple heat sources and end users, operate under realistic conditions and deliver benefits at the system level across industrial and residential settings. New technologies, design, operation and control methods, implementation pathways, policies and business models that enable the wider use of low-temperature heat are also welcome to be submitted. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Thermally driven absorption and adsorption processes for heating, cooling, humidity control and district energy networks;
- Liquid and solid desiccant technologies in combination with chillers for latent and sensible heat decoupling;
- Regeneration of sorbents using low-temperature heat sources from district networks, data centres, hydrogen production and industrial processes, and integration with heat pumps or excess electricity;
- Sensible, latent and thermochemical energy storage and transport enabling temporal shifting of heat and humidity;
- Co-optimisation of heat rejection and heat reuse, including non-traditional recovery pathways;
- Innovative assessments and metrics for techno-economic analysis, including exergy and exergo-economic indicators, levelised cost analysis and waste heat pricing, and design of novel business models.
By addressing these topics, this Special Issue aims to provide a clear view of the performance and economics of current and future low-grade heat recovery technologies, helping researchers, practitioners and policymakers to unlock the value of this untapped energy source.
Dr. Alessandro Giampieri
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- low-grade heat recovery
- heat integration
- sorption technologies
- liquid desiccant
- thermal storage
- district energy networks
- techno-economic analysis
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