Techno-Economic and GHG Mitigation Analyses Based on Regional and Seasonal Variations of Non-Concentrating Solar Thermal Collectors in Textile Sector of Pakistan`/

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.