Pharma

Pharma industries have two kinds of processes where conventional fuel for high temperature is used. One is process heating or batch heating at around 180-200 degree Celsius. The other is boiler feed water heating. The heat requirement can be in the form of water, steam or thermic fluid. Depending on the conventional fuel used for achieving these temperatures, the operating costs incurred are medium to high. Moreover, the use of conventional fuels leads to a significant amount of GHG emissions.

Solar Thermal-based collectors and concentrators can be used to produce the required heat in the form of water, thermic fluid, steam for the above processes.

By using Oorja solar thermal collectors:

1. Fully automated system and can be integrated into processes along with existing conventional heater or boiler.

2. 60-90 % reduction in fossil energy consumption, depending on the irradiation and size of collectors, offsetting tonnes of GHG emissions.

3. Reduction in operating costs of the processes, depending on the fuel used.

4. Less than 3 years payback and after that, the system works for free.

5.The installations can be done on the ground, RCC roofs and industrial sheds.

6.The excess heat can be stored in heat storage tanks and used in non-solar ones as well.

Figure 1 Oorja Compound Parabolic Collectors on Industrial Rooftop.

Depending on the temperature required, different kinds of products can be used. For temperature requirements from 80 to 120 degree Celsius, for example, for boiler feedwater heating, Compound Parabolic Collector can be used. They can utilise diffused radiation and don’t require a tracking system. For processes such as batch heating where temperature up to 200 deg Celsius will be required, XCPC (Cross-linked Compound Parabolic Collector) can be used. These collectors require the thermic fluid to be heated and later heat can be transferred through the suitable heat exchanger as required.