Solar Heat for Industrial Processes

1. Solar Heat for Industrial Processes

2. About 30% of the total industrial heat demand is at temperature levels below 100°C which can be provided with commercially available solar thermal collectors.

3. Issues • Economic viability: the main challenge in the implementation of projects for solar heat in industrial processes heat lies in their economic viability. It is more likely if: – low temperature process heat is required throughout the year (not only during the heating period), best below 50°C – no waste heat from other processes can be used – heating oil is the main fuel – dedicated grants and funding schemes are normally available • Technical know-how : for a successful installation, a good understanding of industrial processes is required from solar companies and planners and industrial companies need more information on solar thermal solutions (which they can only get from solar thermal experts). • Relevant industrial processes: solar process heat can be technically and economically viable in a range of industries where processes such as cleaning and washing, heating of baths & vessels, drying, pre-heating of make-up water for steam networks, raw material production with hot water are used. www.chromagen.com

4. K.O. questions Self-assessment checklists allow decision makers in industry to make a first preliminary analysis whether solar thermal would be suitable for their processes. – Does the company need process heat at temperature levels below 100°C? – Is space available to install solar thermal collectors areas at the company site? – Is this space oriented towards south/south-east/south-west or on a flat roof? – Does the company use fossil fuels for process heat production during the summer months? If any of these questions is answered with “no“, it is rather unlikely that solar process heat will be economically feasible. www.chromagen.com

5. O.K. checklist The more of the questions are answered with “yes“, the better the economic and technical conditions for solar process heat are. A FULL CHECKLIST CAN BE PROVIDED ON DEMAND. www.chromagen.com

6. Due to their favourably low temperature level and their frequentoccurrence in different industrial sectors, the following industrialprocesses were identified as highly relevantfor solar heatapplications:– heating of hot water for cleaning or washing.– heating of baths or vessels.– convective drying with hot air.

7. Cleaning and washing Cleaning and washing is one of the most wide-spread applications in all sectors of industrial processes. Hot water is needed for cleaning of machineries and equipment In chemical industry and in the food and brewery industry where cleaning the entire daily used machinery and equipment is absolutely necessary. The typical range of temperature is of 30 to 80ºC, with priority on 40 to 60 ºC. These industrial processes demand heat everyday at analyzed industries. Frequent washing of equipments during daily batch processes is also common in these industries, as vessels in chemical industry. Cleaning can also be part of the production process itself, as it is required e.g. in food industry to prepare the goods for preparation, the final washing before drying and packaging, cleaning of packaging materials etc. www.chromagen.es www.chromagen.com

8. Cleaning and washing There is a wide range of specific applications for water at different temperature levels. Depending on the process, the systems are continuous and discontinuous and differ between open systems without any water or heat recover technology and semiclosed systems in which waste water heat recovery systems are included. The integration of solar thermal heat in washing processes is comparatively easy to realise from a technical point of view. The solar heat is used for heating a buffer storage. If the solar plant cannot cover the whole heat demand, the existing conventional system can provide backup heating. www.chromagen.es

9. Cleaning and washing Some specific examples are: • Cleaning of cheese molds • Washing of vessels where meat or mixtures (sausages) are prepared and produced • Washing of molds at meat processing industry • Washing of vessels at dairy products industries • Preliminary washing of meat units at meet processing industries • Washing of meat or vegetables before packaging or freezing process • Vessels cleaning at wine production industry • Cleaning of bottles at bottling industry (for drinks as wine or juice) • Washing of vessels where products are prepared, every time that they have to produce a different product at chemical industries - Industrial washing machines - Cleaning of tanks and machinery at recycling Cleaning of cheese molds www.chromagen.es

10. Heating of baths/vessels Wherever baths filled with very different liquids (water, grease, oil, chemicals, etc.) which need to be heated, in principle solar heat can be used. Present heating systems are supplied by oil or gas boilers which produce either steam or hot water, either centrally for the whole plant or decentrally for the specific process. For most applications, vessels with large capacities are installed and (re-)filled or reheated, frequently more than once a day. In these cases, solar heat can be suitable as storage tanks can be designed exactly for the expected demand of heat. In processes which require hot baths, the hot liquid as such can be used as storage medium for solar heat. www.chromagen.es

11. Heating of baths/vessels Some specific examples are: - Raw materials at chemical industries need heat to maintain the properties of chemical products. Mixtures at those industries need also heat to produce the desired product. (e.g. hair products, plastic production) - Scald process at chicken industry - Cooking of food - Chemical treatments in baths at metal industry (e.g. electroplating, thermoforesys, galvanizing, aluminium pretreatment, steel pretreatment ) - Temperature providing for painting and resin tanks heating - Degreasing of metal elements at metal or machinery industry - Degreasing of food intermediate products (e.g. fat production) - Heating of baths for aquariums - Heating of baths for textile dyeing Chemical treatment bath www.chromagen.es

12. Drying The process of drying includes many applications in a wide range of industrial sectors. Drying is usually the final step in a series of operations and the product from a dryer is often ready for final packaging. Drying is a very energy intensive process as itis the process of evaporating water out of solid materials. For many drying processes, particularly slow drying, temperatures below 70°C are required which allows the usage of waste heat from other steps of the production. Dryers are often run continuously with a constant heat demand, what makes them interesting for the use of solar heat. Solar heat integration solutions can be found for a wide range of different system concepts. www.chromagen.com

13. Drying Some specific examples are: - At food industries, like pasta or dried condiment, heat for drying is needed - Wood drying in slow drying process - Painting drying at metal supporting industries - Drying of metal spare parts in intermediate processes - Heating/Drying of plastic skins for ductility optimization (before modeling) - Heating/Drying halls for production - Drying of ceramics at building industry Paintings drying treatment www.chromagen.es www.chromagen.com

14. Solar thermal process heat Solar thermal energy can be used for a range of industrial processes. The solar thermal collectors are usually mounted on the roof. The size of the systems depends on the heat demand. The solar system does not need to cover the total process heat demand. A cost optimized system which produces only a part of the process heat demand or is used for pre-heating purposes can also be a good solution. For storing solar heat, a buffer storage is usually necessary, for which sufficient space must be available. Properly planned and maintained solar thermal systems can have a lifetime of more than 20 years. www.chromagen.com

15. Case studiesThe following case studies and simulated energy gains are only valid for the introduced specific examples. Thus, the results shown will have to be adapted individually by own simulations, taking variations in the individual industrial process systems, process management, resulting load profiles and meteorological conditions into account.

16. Case study – washing MATADERO CABEZO DE LA PLATA S.L. (cleaning and washing) is a Spanish pig slaughtering industry located at Murcia. A solar thermal system with a 192 m2 (134 kWth)net aperture collector area and storage volume of 10.000 liters was installed. The system heats water for washing and cleaning at an average temperature of 500 C providing 89% (141,894 kWh) of the total energy required (159,921 kWh).The backup system is provided by gasoil boilers. The investment costs were 119,640 Euro and a grant of 71.784 Euros was received. The estimated ROI was 4 years. 90 Chromagen collectors at Matadero Cabezo de la Plata, Murcia, Spain www.chromagen.com

17. Case study - defrosting PESCADOS JUAN FERNANDÉZ S.L (heating of seafood defrosting baths) is a Spanish fish and seafood wholesaler with manipulation premises at Aguiño (A Coruña). A solar thermal system with a 152 m2 (101 kWth) net aperture collector area and a 500 liters solar were installed. The buffer storage volume is of 4.000 liters. A coil-based heat exchanger raises the buffer tanks temperature to 80ºC, after which the water is conditioned and mixed to achieve 30ºC (to avoid cooking) at the two 6.000 liters defrosting baths and 45ºC for the showers. An anti-Legionella treatment system was also included to minimize the effects of the bacteria in the overall defrosting. The backup and the replaced fossil fuel is a gasoil boiler. The annual energy demand is 447.575 MJ/year and the solar system provides 417.859 MJ/year (80.14% energy savings). 60 Chromagen collectors at Pescados Juan Fernandéz seafood defrosting premises at A Coruña, Spain www.chromagen.com

18. Case study - scalding CHAROEN POKPHAND FOODS PCL (chicken industry, scald process) is a Bangkok world leading agro-industrial business, slaughtering 200.000 chicken daily. A solar thermal system with a 500 m2 net aperture collector area and a buffer storage volume of 2x20.000 liters was installed. The system preheats from 30o to 60oCa water supply of 55.000 liter p/day.The water from the water tanks then goes into other storage tanks. Gas and oil boilers provide backup and create steam for chicken scalding. Saved energy – aprox. 512.956Kwh.The investment costs were 175,000 Euro and the estimated ROI is 3 years. 195 Chromagen collectors at CPF food industries in Thailand

19. Case study - heating AGROSUPER S.A. (pig barn, heating process) is a Chilean leading pig production industry with a large site located south of Santiago. The industrial process requires heating at low temperatures. A 254 solar collector project was installed for barn # 10. Combined with 30 m3 of storage, the annual saving reaches 43% of total energy demand. Group # 28, with 180 collectors and also 30 m3 of storage, provides a 52% saving in energy. Total investment for both groups was 340.000 Euros. 434 Chromagen collectors at Agrosuper industries in Chile www.chromagen.com

20. Case study – drying PREFABRICADOS RELENCO S.A. (prefabricated concrete drying) is a Spanish prefabricated concrete factory located at Lantejuela (Seville). A solar thermal system with a 228 m2 (160 kWth) net aperture collector area and a buffer storage volume of 3x5.000 liters was installed. The energy required for the process is 227.249 Kwh and the solar contribution is 125.144 Kwh (49%) with an average water temperature of 50o. The replaced fossil fuel is gas and oil. Saved energy – 125.884 Kwh.The investment costs were 175,000 Euro and the estimated ROI is 3 years. 88 Chromagen collectors at Prefabricados Relenco prefabricated concrete factory in Seville, Spain www.chromagen.com

21. CO2MMITMENT Last but not least, modern industries need to show their commitment to the worldwide cause for a cleaner and greener environment. Solar process heat is especially relevant for companies that are interested in innovative technologies and in reducing their emissions from fossil fuel based heat production.

22. Industry targeted e-mailing 30% savings on your energy bill Imagine what this could do to your manufacturing profits About 30 % of the total industrial heat demand occurs at temperature levels below 100 °C and further 27 % between 100 °C and 400 °C. A significant part of this heat, especially below 100 °C, can be generated by solar thermal plants. There is a wide range of specific applications for heating at different temperature levels. Solar thermal energy can be integrated into the processes directly or into the heat distribution network (high temperature water network or steam network). Performance, economy and reliability of a solar thermal system depend very much on a proper analysis of the process characteristics and on a sound check of energy efficiency measures.In several countries subsidy programmes exist, covering also or especially solar thermal process heat installations. The annual energy gains of solar process heat installations can be twice as high as in the residential sector, depending on the minimum utilizable temperature, the process temperature and the load profile. This can dramatically reduce the amortization times (dependant if fuel, oil, gas or electricity is substituted). Properly planned and maintained solar thermal systems can have a lifetime of more than 20 years. Most relevant industrial processes Solar process heat can be technically and economically viable in a wide range of industries where processes such as cleaning and washing, heating of baths & vessels, drying, pre-heating of make-up water for steam networks, raw material production with hot water are used. Self assesment check list Do you need to process heat at temperature levels below 100°C? Is there south oriented space available to install solar thermal collectors areas at the site? Do you use fossil fuels for process heat production during the summer months? Benefits Big savings on you energy bills Commitment to a greener environment