Abstract:
SDG implementation in the industrial sector of Pakistan is significant for its economic
growth, sustainable industrialization, innovation, and sustainable production.
Integration of solar thermal collectors in the textile industry will encompass
sustainable development goals (SDG 7,9,12,13). Meeting these goals in the thermal
sector of Pakistan is becoming increasingly challenging due to the limited resources
and harmful emissions from conventional fuels. In this study, the technical feasibility
of two non-concentrating collectors, Flat Plate Collector (FPC) and Evacuated Tube
Collector (ETC) was investigated for the application of preheating of feedwater of
boilers. Choosing the better performing collector, a comparative analysis of three fuels
(coal, oil, and natural gas) has been carried out by using TRNSYS and RETScreen for
economic analysis and GHG emission mitigation respectively for five different cities
(Karachi, Quetta, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Peshawar) of Pakistan. The output
temperature of collectors against a setpoint of 80
C, for these selected cities was
compared to investigate the thermal performance of the system. The overall best
results have been observed in Quetta. Replacement of coal has shown the highest GHG
emission mitigation potential of 182,326 tonnes of CO2 and the highest NPV for oil
(1509.4 million PKR) for Quetta among the three fuels studied. Based on the results,
it can be deduced that this work can be further extended to concentrating thermal
technologies as well. Since real-time industrial data has been used, the insights will
promote solar thermal technology in Pakistan.
