Operational parameters optimization of linear Fresnel reflector concentrated solar plant supplying heat for industrial processes

A sizeable portion of the overall energy used by various industrial processes is thermal energy. This could be largely supplied by technologies of solar energy in countries with abundant solar energy, like Jordan. Many processes in dairy factories require heat at different temperatures. Hot steam is even necessary for some of these processes. Such high temperatures can be produced by concentrated solar power plants using a number of technologies, like linear Fresnel reflectors. This paper presents the optimization of the operating parameters leading to the best techno-economic performance of a linear Fresnel reflector that provides heat for a pasteurization process in a dairy factory. A processing rate was assumed to be of 100,000 liters/day of milk. After fixing all parameters involved in the design process, then the research work proceeds to optimize five operational parameters. These were fed to RESSSPI software; a solar energy simulator for industrial processes, resulting in 30 different simulations. The optimal operational parameters obtained were used for a techno-economic performance simulation of the plant. Results showed that the system turned out to be very feasible, both technically and economically. The heat produced by the solar system was 1362828.4 kWh, while the heat consumption by the process was 1480277.6 kWh representing 92.1 % of the heat energy required for the designated process. The solar energy utilization factor was 83.3 % resulting because of energy lost due to defocusing of the Fresnel reflectors. The payback period of the project was 3 years and the LCOE was 0.02970 <euro>/kWh.