Methodological Analysis of Industrial Processes Regarding the Implementation of a Solar Thermal Process Heating System
Abstract
One third of the European primary energy consumption is used for industrial applications. A huge amount of this energy consumption is needed for heating processes. Today’s process heating systems are normally fossil fired. Not only the increase in fuel cost in recent years requires the industry to reconsider their approach regarding process heat supply but at the same time the finite nature of fossil fuels and the negative impact of CO2 emissions on the climate. A very promising option is the implementation of solar-thermal power into the process heat systems. However, standardised procedures for system implementation are generally not available. Much more complex than the design of common solar heat supply technologies is the integration of solar heat in industrial processes. So, the use of solar-thermal systems for process heat supply requires extensive research concerning the processes occurring in several applications. The exact knowledge of process data is of essential significance. Temperature level, heat requirement, and periods of heat demand are collected by a comprehensive monitoring of each process. Based on these data, optimisation measures are defined and simulation models for the process structure are developed in order to identify appropriate processes for solar heat supply.