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Improved efficiency prediction of a molten salt receiver based on dynamic cloud passage simulation
(2019)
Simulation model for the transient process behaviour of solar aluminium recycling in a rotary kiln
(2015)
Concentrating solar power
(2012)
Two of the main environmental problems of today’s society are the continuously increasing production of organic wastes
as well as the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the related green house effect. A way to solve these
problems is the production of biogas. Biogas is a combustible gas consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and small
amounts of other gases and trace elements. Production of biogas through anaerobic digestion of animal manure and
slurries as well as of a wide range of digestible organic wastes and agricultural residues, converts these substrates into
electricity and heat and offers a natural fertiliser for agriculture. The microbiological process of decomposition of
organic matter, in the absence of oxygen takes place in reactors, called digesters. Biogas can be used as a fuel in a gas
turbine or burner and can be used in a hybrid solar tower system offering a solution for waste treatment of agricultural
and animal residues. A solar tower system consists of a heliostat field, which concentrates direct solar irradiation on an
open volumetric central receiver. The receiver heats up ambient air to temperatures of around 700°C. The hot air’s heat
energy is transferred to a steam Rankine cycle in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The steam drives a steam
turbine, which in turn drives a generator for producing electricity. In order to increase the operational hours of a solar
tower power plant, a heat storage system and/ or hybridization may be considered. The advantage of solar-fossil hybrid
power plants, compared to solar-only systems, lies in low additional investment costs due to an adaptable solar share and
reduced technical and economical risks. On sunny days the hybrid system operates in a solar-only mode with the central
receiver and on cloudy days and at night with the gas turbine only. As an alternative to methane gas, environmentally
neutral biogas can be used for operating the gas turbine. Hence, the hybrid system is operated to 100% from renewable
energy sources
