Study of Direct Steam Generation by Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrators

The main topic of this work is solar energy which has been used for various applications throughout its history. In 1912, the worlds largest solar powered pumping plant to date was built by Frank Shuman and the system was placed in Maadi, Egyp. The plant was shut down in 1915 because of World War I and also due to cheap oil prices. There are many areas beside electricity production where solar energy can be utilized efficiently. Solar thermal energy has been used for water heating purposes in residential appliances for years. Solar energy is one of the renewable technologies which harness the energy of solar irradiance to produce electricity using photovoltaic (PV) or concentrating solar power (CSP), to have heating or cooling (either passive or active) or to meet direct lighting needs. Process heat for industrial use represent a considerable consumer of energy worldwide, almost 30 % of total energy demand worldwide is used up by thermal industry processes. A substantial amount of the process heat application is used to generate saturated steam. Solar Direct Steam Generation (DSG) is made possible by solar concentrating technology, and allows for integration with existing fossil based systems. Compared to indirect steam generation, DSG introduces the opportunity of capital cost saving in addition to enhanced performance and lower heat losses. The environmental aspects of not having to use thermal oil in the process are another big advantage of DSG. DSG, however, presents its own challenges regarding the controllability and stability of the system due to the two phase flows in the absorber tube in addition to the dynamics of the steam drum.