Design of solar thermal systems for the mining industry

摘要

The design and cost estimation of solar thermal systems for integration to industrial processes require the analysis of multiple alternatives in terms of solar collector technology, configurations, and equipment sizes. This paper presents a practical approach to design and to estimate the costs of the integration of solar thermal energy to the mining industry. The approach is applied to integrate a solar thermal system to a copper mining process, which is located in Calama, Chile. The proposed solar thermal system consists of a parabolic trough solar field integrating a thermal energy storage to produce hot air for drying copper concentrate. The analysis indicates a capital cost of 3813 USD/kW_(th). The most important investments are the solar field (44%) and the energy storage system (42%). The real (nominal) levelized cost of heat is 5.21 (6.03) cent USD/kW_(th), which is relatively lower than those obtained in Europe.