SolProBat – Development of a Methodology for the Integration of Solar Thermal Process Heat in Batch Processes

Therefore, the development of a methodology to implement solar thermal energy into the heat generation system of a production site combined with possible heat recovery measures have been the aim of the project.

The so called “Pinch – Analysis” is a powerful tool to determine the potential for internal heat recovery and was used in the project. The tool was mainly developed for continuous processes and the adaptations for batch processes had to be investigated.

The possibilities to combine existing software solutions for Pinch analysis and solar thermal simulation had to be looked into in the project. During the work some programs have been found usable to exchange data with each other, but a combined calculation/simulation has not been performed.

A possible methodology was found by separate analysis of the heat recovery potential by using the Pinch analysis and afterwards the simulation of possible solar thermal plants. The solar thermal plant is used to cover a remaining share of the energy demand at a low temperature level to achieve highest possible efficiency.

The methodology was applied to work out case studies for the companies Berglandmilch, Wolford AG and Beerenfrost. The heat recovery potential and possible solar thermal plants have been shown and calculation of calculations of profitability were performed for all cases.