Solar Solutions For The Chemical Industry
Introduction
The use of solar energy is a general trend that is widely accepted in the chemical and allied industries. The solar technology harnesses the power of the sun to drive chemical reactions. This revolutionary technology is paving the way for a more sustainable chemical manufacturing industry, one of the globe’s biggest energy users. This ongoing transition to a new economic and environmental status of the sector.
Overview of the Chemical Industry
The Chemical Industry includes basic chemicals and its derivatives, petrochemicals, paints and varnishes, gases, fertilizers and alcohol. It is one of the most diversified industrial sectors, with thousands of commercial products to choose from.
Chemicals are supplied to a variety of other industries, including paper, paint, and textiles. Through fertilisers, the vast agriculture sector is likewise largely reliant on the chemical industry. The huge agricultural sector is also heavily dependent on the chemical industry through fertilizers.
A Power-hungry Industry
The chemical Industry is an intensely power-hungry industry. It is a carbon-powered sector since typical catalytic procedures demand intense heating and pressure to produce reactions. In order to complete the chemical conversion, the business relies largely on fossil fuels as an electric source. The raw materials must be heated to 200 or 300 degrees, taking roughly 1/3 of the energy in the process. During this process, the emissions into the environment are considerable amounts of CO2 and other pollutants.
The Need for Transitioning to Green Energy
In the above context, it is critical to find various ways for transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing the chemical sector’s carbon impact. Solar power appears to be the most realistic of all the green alternatives being investigated, as sun rays reach most sections of the country and India has more than 333 bright days due to its tropical location. Concentrated solar thermal systems (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) solar power solutions are the two primary sources of solar energy. This technology can be utilised to efficiently harness sunshine and turn solar energy into chemicals, with the goal of making this important industry renewable and sustainable.
Applications of Solar in various Processes
Chemical processes typically include one or more energy intensive processes such as distillation, evaporation, packaging, centrifuging and drying. To meet its production requirements, the chemical industry predominantly relies on all forms of heat such as low and high-pressure steam, hot water and hot air. Additionally, there is a large demand for refrigeration and air conditioning, for process and storage requirements of some chemicals. Solar systems are perfectly suited to provide a large fraction of the energy loads consumed by air conditioning in the plant.
The following are some of the processes in the chemical industry that require thermal energy to generate steam and hot air and can be met using concentrated solar power technologies:
- Endothermic chemical reaction
- Distillation, evaporation and drying
- Cooling and refrigeration
- Effluent treatment
Some of the various processes where we can use the solar thermal system are:
1.Reflux
2.Spray Drying.
3.Cleaning In Place
4. Preheating of boiler feed water
Roadblocks in viability of Solar Technology :
The large-scale implementation of solar electricity in the chemical sector still seems distant reality, as a commercially viable technology can only be a grid synchronised supplementary source of energy. Furthermore, some of the technologies presented are still in the early stages of development and have yet to be proved in an industrial setting.
While solar with batteries is a viable technology for providing power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is not an economically viable solution for supplying all of a chemical plant’s energy. As a result, a chemical factory that uses this technology to obtain solar power will not be grid independent. Even though there is grid dependency, grid synchronised onsite and offshore solar power can save a lot of money on energy.
Commitment to Sustainability :
On a global scale, sustainability and climate change have now moved from the domain of corporate decision-making to the mainstream since the last one or two decades. Many of the world’s greatest corporations have signed the RE100 pledge, which pledges businesses to achieve 100 percent renewable energy sourcing within a stipulated time frame. Ten years ago, any sustainability programme, no matter how little, was generally regarded as a welcome initiative. However, today there is a huge push for businesses to switch totally to renewable energy for all of their power needs. As a result, even those who have not joined the RE100 pledge are feeling the need to address the sustainability of their business.
Conclusion
We all rely on the power of the sun to transform raw materials into useful compounds that are the building blocks of life’s fundamental goods — from plastics and pharmaceuticals to fertilisers, petroleum by-products, minerals, and farm products. We can achieve high efficiency using sunlight for numerous chemical operations, and at considerably lower temperatures, as well as reduce the environmental impact of chemical manufacturing.