Pilot Plant for Solar Process Steam Supply

An aluminium upgrading process will be supplied by steam directly generated in parabolic trough collectors. In this first of it’s kind installation in an industrial environment, steam at 4 bar will be fed into the existing distribution lines of the production to heat anodizing baths and storage tanks. The integration of the solar steam through separate heat exchangers in parallel to the existing system was also considered. In principle, due to the low temperatures of the baths, solar hot water systems could be integrated in the same way. However, the additional heat exchangers and pipelines between the solar system and the consuming process generate significant investment cost on top of the solar system. The selected integration of the solar steam generator in parallel to the existing boiler reduces the complexity of the system, saves cost by avoiding duplication of piping and heat exchangers, and provides flexibility in the operation to ensure security of supply and maximum use of available solar energy

Solarunterstützte Kraft-Wärme-Kälte-Kopplung – Hybridsysteme im Trend

Das Paper diskutiert mehrere Varianten zur Einkopplung von Solarenergie in Kraft-Wärme-Kälte-Anlagen: Parabolrinnenanlagen mit ORC-Prozess und Absorptionskälteanlage, Mikroturbine mit Solarturm

Solar steam supply: Initial operation of a plant

This paper describes experiences in operating a parabolic trough collector field for process heat supply by direct steam generation. The solar steam generator has been running automatically since its start in 2010 except for a winter pause up to now, August 2011, without any malfunction. It has supplied steam at 4 bar absolute and 143°C to the main production steam line on sunny days. Direct steam generation has proven to be a viable technology to supply saturated steam to an industrial steam network. Only a few hydraulic components are necessary to set-up the installation, no major difficulties occurred in implementing the control. The project has been supported by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety