Thermoeconomic Analysis of a Solar-Assisted Industrial Process Heating System

<div><p>Thermal energy in the industrial sector for process heating applications in the range of 50 to 250°C consumes about 35% of the global fossil fuel. Cascaded solar thermal systems are promising solutions to meet clean and uninterrupted thermal energy supply for industrial process h...

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Main Author: Laveet Kumar (11460088) (author)
Other Authors: M. Hasanuzzaman (17831990) (author), N. A. Rahim (6033758) (author), Ahmad K. Sleiti (14778229) (author)
Published: 2024
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Summary:<div><p>Thermal energy in the industrial sector for process heating applications in the range of 50 to 250°C consumes about 35% of the global fossil fuel. Cascaded solar thermal systems are promising solutions to meet clean and uninterrupted thermal energy supply for industrial process heating. Well-engineered cascaded arrangement of solar thermal collector (STC) and photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector can attain an average solar fraction of more than 50%. In the present research, a solar-assisted process heating system, wherein a STC integrated in series with PVT, has been designed to produce low- to medium-temperature heat at higher solar fractions. Herein, thermal performance and economic viability of this novel system have been investigated and analyzed methodically. In the present research, a comprehensive TRNSYS simulation model is developed and validated experimentally. Results show that PVT integrated with heat pipe evacuated tube collector (PVT-HPETC) and PVT integrated with flat plate collector (PVT-FPC) system can generate thermal energy as high as 1625 and 1420 W with a thermal efficiency of 81 and 77% and exergy efficiency of 13.22 and 12.72%. Levelized cost of heat (LCOH) for PVT-HPETC at process heat temperatures of 60, 70, and 80°C is 0.214, 0.208, and 0.201 MYR/kWh, respectively. It is worth to note that LCOH is less than the existing cost of heat generation which proves that these systems are economically feasible.</p><p> </p></div><h2>Other Information</h2> <p> Published in: International Journal of Energy Research<br> License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/4614066" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/4614066</a></p>