Absorption heat pumps and low exergy heat recovery have been named as key technologies for contributing to the solution of energy provision problems and related environmental issues. In order to achieve a better understanding and predictive models for the phenomena occurring in high temperature absorption heat transformers this project focus on Marangoni convection and high temperature absorption phenomena as critical aspects yet to be clarified.

To achieve this goal, experimental investigations at high temperature operability and direct visualization of falling film absorbers have been carried out as terms of comparison for refining and validate the developed numerical models. Preliminary results have been summarized into papers, presented to domestic and international conferences and submitted to international journals.

Finally, the equipment for the fundamental characterization and PIV measurement of Marangoni convection in a nearly-bi-dimensional space was designed, constructed and instrumented for investigating the driving force of this phenomenon, the most suitable surfactant characteristics and the absorption performance enhancement with respect to pure aqueous Lithium-Bromide mixtures.