Evaluation of the environmental performance of an innovative solar thermal system applied to the industrial sector: a case study

Abstract

An environmental assessment of an innovative solar thermal technology called ASTEP has been performed. ASTEP consists of three main elements: a novel rotary Fresnel Sundial, thermal energy storage (TES) and the controls. It supplies solar thermal energy to industrial processes of maximum 400 °C. This energy source has been implemented to two end-users, Mandrekas and Arcelor Mittal, located in the regions with low and high latitudes. The results revealed that manufacturing of the ASTEP system had the most significant environmental impact, followed by the operation, transportation and waste disposal. Within the manufacturing phase, TES components had the highest environmental impact. This was primarily due to the greater quantity of materials and energy required for TES manufacturing compared to the other components. When applied to the end-users, ASTEP system demonstrated notable reduction of CO₂ emissions by 9.7 tonnes for MAND and 8.3 tonnes for AMTP. Furthermore, higher GHG emissions savings of 332 tonnes for MAND and 182 tonnes for AMTP could be achieved when the system’s capacity is increased to 950 MWh/year and 609 MWh/year, respectively. The research demonstrated that the incorporation of the ASTEP system into industrial processes would result in a significant reduction of their environmental impact.