Optimal solar thermal design palm oil refinery

Abstract

One of the main contributors to global warming and climate change is the use of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil to generate electricity. Energy demand continues to grow, and the fossil fuel consumption will most likely increase, resulting in a further increase in CO2 emissions. Solar energy has many benefits over other options and is the most promising alternative energy. Solar energy is a safe and renewable source of energy originating from the sun that can be directly used to produce electricity. Solar thermal energy (STE) is a type of renewable energy and technology that can be used in manufacturing, residential and commercial sectors to harness solar energy to produce thermal or electrical energy. In Malaysia in particular, electricity is much cheaper, so it is not as attractive as other countries to switch to renewable energy. The challenger relies on the implementation of solar thermal heat systems in industrial processes and the use of solar thermal heat applications based on energy demand, consumption, and climatic conditions in Malaysia. However, the capital investment on solar thermal is not cheap and solar thermal system efficiencies varies upon multiple technical specifications and environment factors. Therefore, solar thermal potentials had to be studied and the optimum specification had to be determined for installing the solar thermal system in industrial processes. This study will be conducted by firstly familiarize the process flow, proposed the solar thermal system design, data collection and finally, solar thermal integration. The case study will be conducted in an oil palm refinery which known as Mewaholeo Industries Sdn Bhd. The best collector type, number of collectors, and solar thermal design was generated using an excel tool named Solar Heat Industry Process (SHIP) to conduct a performance and financial analysis.