Prospect of solar thermal integration for multiple processes in oleochemical and poultry industries

Abstract

The implementation of solar thermal technology in the industries has huge potential in a tropical region due to abundant solar radiation. Getting limitless source of sunlight throughout the year is not a guarantee for solar thermal to be implemented in industries as many factors from the demand and supply sides need to be considered. These include process heat demand profiles, solar intensity, weather patterns, types and capacity of the solar thermal system, site suitability, and availability. This paper presents the establishment of a process heat demand profile to examine the potential of solar thermal integration in oleochemical and poultry industries in Malaysia. A systematic method for matching the solar energy supply under variable climatic conditions with an appropriate heat demand profile leads to improved design and created an optimal operating strategy. Two illustrative case studies are demonstrated to highlight the potential of solar thermal integration at the process and product sides in oleochemical and poultry industries, which provide significant progress towards fossil fuel and emissions reduction. The results revealed that the increase of process demand needs to be accommodated with bigger thermal storage tanks and larger solar collector area to achieve and maintain high solar fraction. The increase of investment cost was offset by larger energy savings and concluding all the simulated scenarios had their payback period within 13 to 18 y.