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Technical and economic feasibility of solar flat-plate collector thermal energy systems for small and medium manufacturers

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  • Karki, Saroj
  • Haapala, Karl R.
  • Fronk, Brian M.

Abstract

Manufacturing industries require process heating for a wide variety of operations, such as drying, cooking, washing, and sterilizing. Studies of industrial energy consumption have shown that more than 50% of industrial heating demand is in the low (<60 °C), medium (60–150 °C), and medium-high (<250 °C) temperature ranges. A significant fraction of this low temperature thermal energy could be generated by commercially available solar flat-plate collector thermal energy systems, which would reduce the use of fossil fuels, energy cost volatility, and carbon emissions. However, manufacturing industries have not been able to take advantage of solar flat-plate collector systems for two main reasons: First, information is not readily available about when and what flat-plate collector system sizes can be economically applied and, second, manufacturers often do not have appropriate personnel or analysis tools to make decisions about installation of solar flat-plate collector systems. The goal of this research is to provide design decision support to small- and medium-sized manufacturers in conducting feasibility analysis for the application of solar flat-plate collector systems in their operations. The ϕ‾,f-chart method and modified ϕ‾,f-chart design method are used to predict the amount of energy collected by solar flat-plate collectors. A simplified model is proposed to assess the cost of solar flat-plate collector energy systems. To demonstrate the presented feasibility analysis methodology, a decision support software application is developed. What-if scenarios are presented for several geographic locations of varying climates. A sensitivity analysis of savings-to-investment ratio (SIR) was performed by changing selected input parameters by ±30% from the base case. It was found that SIR is sensitive to natural gas price, followed by collector area dependent cost, discount rate, cost of the auxiliary gas heater, and cost of the preheating system.

Suggested Citation

  • Karki, Saroj & Haapala, Karl R. & Fronk, Brian M., 2019. "Technical and economic feasibility of solar flat-plate collector thermal energy systems for small and medium manufacturers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:254:y:2019:i:c:s0306261919313364
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113649
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    12. Alessandro Franco, 2020. "Methods for the Sustainable Design of Solar Energy Systems for Industrial Process Heat," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    13. Junaid Ahmed & Laveet Kumar & Abdul Fatah Abbasi & Mamdouh El Haj Assad, 2022. "Energy, Exergy, Environmental and Economic Analysis (4e) of a Solar Thermal System for Process Heating in Jamshoro, Pakistan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-18, November.
    14. Selikhov, Yuriy & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Kapustenko, Petro & Arsenyeva, Olga, 2022. "The study of flat plate solar collector with absorbing elements from a polymer material," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
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    16. Piotr Olczak & Dominika Matuszewska & Jadwiga Zabagło, 2020. "The Comparison of Solar Energy Gaining Effectiveness between Flat Plate Collectors and Evacuated Tube Collectors with Heat Pipe: Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    17. Martínez-Rodríguez, Guillermo & Baltazar, Juan-Carlos & Fuentes-Silva, Amanda L., 2023. "Heat and electric power production using heat pumps assisted with solar thermal energy for industrial applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    18. Hu, Mingke & Zhao, Bin & Ao, Xianze & Suhendri, & Cao, Jingyu & Wang, Qiliang & Riffat, Saffa & Su, Yuehong & Pei, Gang, 2020. "An analytical study of the nocturnal radiative cooling potential of typical photovoltaic/thermal module," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).

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