Drying of Oil Palm Fronds Using Concentrated Solar Thermal Power

2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 449-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaharin Anwar Sulaiman ◽  
Farid Fawzy Fathy Taha
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Drying Rate ◽  
Drying Methods ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Oil Palm Fronds ◽  
Electric Oven ◽  
Palm Fronds

Malaysia has great potential for biomass stock. The fact that oil palm fronds contain high moisture content makes it unsuitable to be used directly as a biomass fuel neither for direct combustion nor gasification. Conventional and costly drying methods make the fronds a non-attractive fuel especially in humid tropical countries, where sources of biomass is abundant. A new solar dryer design is proposed that utilizes concentrated solar thermal energy for drying oil palm fronds. A prototype for the dryer has been fabricated and tested. The system’s target is to maximize the thermal energy received by the system and to minimize energy loss out of the system. Experiments were performed on samples of oil palm fronds at a drying temperature not exceeding 110°C; in order not to affect the organic material of the biomass. Results were compared with another experiment performed at the same temperature. An electric oven was used for drying. The samples were completely dried using the proposed system for 6.5 hours, compared to 10.5 hours by using the electric oven. The proposed system achieved an average drying rate of 4.75 g/hr compared to an average drying rate of 2.83 g/hr using the electric oven. The efficiency of the dryer was calculated to be 55.4%, implying good potential of the proposed system.

Mechanism of Upgrading Low-Grade Solar Thermal Energy and Experimental Validation

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Hong ◽  
Hongguang Jin ◽  
Jun Sui ◽  
Jun Ji
Keyword(s):  
Energy Level ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Chemical Energy ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Thermal Power Plants ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Middle Temperature

Solar thermochemical processes inherently included the conversion of solar thermal energy into chemical energy. In this paper, a new mechanism of upgrading the energy level of solar thermal energy at around 200°C was revealed based on the second law thermodynamics and was then experimentally proven. An expression was derived to describe the upgrading of the energy level from low-grade solar thermal energy to high-grade chemical energy. The resulting equation explicitly reveals the interrelations of energy levels between middle-temperature solar thermal energy and methanol fuel, and identifies the interactions of mean solar flux and the reactivity of methanol decomposition. The proposed mechanism was experimentally verified by using the fabricated 5kW prototype of the receiver∕reactor. The agreement between the theoretical and the experimental results proves the validity of the mechanism for upgrading the energy level of low-grade solar thermal energy by integrating clean synthetic fuel. Moreover, the application of this new middle-temperature solar∕methanol hybrid thermochemical process into a combined cycle is expected to have a net solar-to-electric efficiency of about 27.8%, which is competitive with other solar-hybrid thermal power plants using high-temperature solar thermal energy. The results obtained here indicate the possibility of utilizing solar thermal energy at around 200°C for electricity generation with high efficiency by upgrading the energy level of solar thermal energy, and provide an enhancement to solar thermal power plants with the development of this low-grade solar thermochemical technology in the near future.

Numerical Simulation & Experimental Research of Heat Charging Process of Cylindrical Units with PCM of Al-Si Alloy

2010 ◽  
Vol 171-172 ◽  
pp. 223-228
Author(s):  
Guan Sheng Chen ◽  
Ren Yuan Zhang ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
Shi Dong Li ◽  
Li Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Test System ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Experimental Result ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Storage Unit

Phase change thermal storage used metal as phase change material (PCM) is an important mode of solar thermal energy storage. In this paper, the heat charging processes of solar heating units were simulated under three kinds of heating flux 100,150 and 200kW/m2 at the bottom face respectively, while the thickness of heat receiving layer at the bottom was in 5, 10 and 15mm. Al-Si alloy was selected as PCM used in the cylindrical body of the units which were in the size of φ1000×1000mm. The change of temperature and solid-liquid phase change interface of Al-Si alloy were analyzed to find out the suitable absorber thickness of thermal energy storage units which can run safety under the condition of temperature 700~900K and heat flux 100~200kW/m2, such as the application of solar thermal energy storage unit in high temperature solar thermal power stations. In the last a test system was built up and the experimental result was close to the simulation value of a unit in the size of φ300×1000×10mm.

scholarly journals Selection of low temperature thermal power cycles

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-165
Author(s):  
Mukundjee Pandey ◽  
Biranchi Padhi ◽  
Ipsita Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Heat Extraction ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Kalina Cycle

In today?s world, we are facing the problem of fossil fuel depletion along with its cost continuously increasing. Also, it is getting difficult to live in a pollution free environment. Solar energy is one of the most abundantly and freely available form of energy. Out of the various ways to harness solar en-ergy, solar thermal energy is the most efficient as compared to photo-voltaic technology. There are various cycles to convert the solar thermal energy to mechanical work, but Kalina cycle (KC) is one of the best candidates for high efficiency considerations. Therefore, the authors have proposed a novel KC having the double separator arrangements to increase the amount of ammonia vapors at the inlet of turbine, and hence have tried to minimize the pumping power for Double Separator Kalina Cycle (DS-KC) by reducing the fraction of gas/vapors through it. Here, in this paper we have tried to com-pare Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), Brayton Cycle (BC) and Double Sepa-rator Kalina Cycle (DS-KC) for low temperature heat extraction from para-bolic trough collectors having arc-circular plug with slits (PTC). The effect of different operating conditions; like the number of PTCs, mass flow rate of fluids in different cycles, pressure difference in turbine are analyzed. The ef-fect of these different operating conditions on different parameters like net work done, heat lost by condenser, thermal efficiency and installation cost per unit kW for DS-KC, ORC and BC are studied.

Solar Upgrading of Methanol: Driven Combined Cycle Using Middle Temperature Solar Collectors

Solar Energy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongguang Jin ◽  
Hui Hong ◽  
Jun Ji ◽  
Zhifeng Wang ◽  
Ruixian Cai
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Solar Collectors ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Optimum Pressure ◽  
Middle Temperature

In this paper, we have proposed a novel solar–driven combined cycle with solar upgrading of methanol in middle temperature solar collectors, and investigated the effects of integration of solar thermal energy and methanol decomposition on the performance of the proposed cycle. The process of solar upgrading methanol is a catalytically endothermic decomposition reaction and proceeds in a range of 130–250° C. As a result, the proposed cycle has a breakthrough performance, with net solar–to–electric efficiency of 32.93% at the collector temperature of 220° C, and the turbine inlet temperature of 1062° C, superior to that of the present advanced cycle (REFOS of 20%). The exergy loss in indirect combustion of methanol proposed here is 7.5 percent points lower than that of the direct combustion. The optimum pressure ratio for thermal efficiency is approximately equal to 14. A key point emphasized here is that the proposed new cycle can utilize middle–temperature solar collector with lower cost. The promising results obtained here indicated that this novel solar–driven combined cycle could make a breakthrough in field of solar thermal power generation through integration of solar thermal energy and effective use of synthetic clean fuel.

Pyrazolium Phase Change Materials for Solar-Thermal and Wind Energy Storage

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Matuszek ◽  
R. Vijayaraghavan ◽  
Craig Forsyth ◽  
Surianarayanan Mahadevan ◽  
Mega Kar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Phase Change Materials ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Energy Storage Materials ◽  
Solar Thermal Energy ◽  
Storage Materials

Renewable energy has the ultimate capacity to resolve the environmental and scarcity challenges of the world’s energy supplies. However, both the utility of these sources and the economics of their implementation are strongly limited by their intermittent nature; inexpensive means of energy storage therefore needs to be part of the design. Distributed thermal energy storage is surprisingly underdeveloped in this context, in part due to the lack of advanced storage materials. Here, we describe a novel family of thermal energy storage materials based on pyrazolium cation, that operate in the 100-220°C temperature range, offering safe, inexpensive capacity, opening new pathways for high efficiency collection and storage of both solar-thermal energy, as well as excess wind power. We probe the molecular origins of the high thermal energy storage capacity of these ionic materials and demonstrate extended cycling that provides a basis for further scale up and development.

A Utilization of Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvent Integrated with Alkaline Earth Metal Hexahydrate in the Pretreatment of Oil Palm Fronds

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 2011-2026
Author(s):  
Eng Kein New ◽  
Ta Yeong Wu ◽  
Khai Shing Voon ◽  
Alessandra Procentese ◽  
Katrina Pui Yee Shak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Palm ◽  
Alkaline Earth ◽  
Choline Chloride ◽  
Deep Eutectic Solvent ◽  
Earth Metal ◽  
Alkaline Earth Metal ◽  
Oil Palm Fronds ◽  
Palm Fronds
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