Techno Economic Analysis of a Hybrid System of Solar Thermal and Biomass for Preheating of Boiler to Reduce Fossil Fuel Usage in Industry /

Abstract

Globally, industrial process heat represents over two-thirds of total energy consumption, with half of this demand requiring low to medium temperatures (<400°C). Fossil fuels are used to meet these requirements that can be integrated with renewable energy sources particularly with solar. The solar resource is available only during sunny hours and cannot work during non-sunny hours without a backup. Owing to the intermittency of solar, it needs to be hybridized with some other renewable energy source e.g. Biomass resource. In this way, the incorporation of hybrid renewable energy systems, such as solar-biomass combinations hybrids, offers a promising, efficient, and eco-friendly solution to meet the industrial process heat demands across various applications. This study primarily aims to present a novel Hybrid Solar-Biomass System (HSBS) specifically designed for pre heating feedwater entering the boiler in process heat industries. This hybrid system includes evacuated tube solar collectors (ETC) and the biomass boiler, which is the facility proposed for low temperature applications (80°C in this case) in industries. Additionally, the initial simulation results of the hybrid solar-biomass system for pre-heating, evaluated through a case study using TRNSYS software, are presented. While, the financial analysis of the system is performed using RET Screen software. The values of economic indicators, obtained from economic analysis, shows the feasibility of the system e.g. positive NPV, IRR, B-C Ratio and short payback period indicate the system feasibility for any process heat industry operate for low to medium temperatures. The use of hybrid system as a new design to integrate to the conventional fuel boilers, that are widely used for heating demands in industries, is economical and sustainable as per the results of system evaluation on RET Screen software. The hybrid system saved 54.6% fuel with a substantial reduction of 44.3% in GHG emissions which is 670 tons of CO2.