Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization
Water pasteurization has the potential to overcome some of the drawbacks of more conventional disinfection techniques such as chlorination, ozonation and ultraviolet radiation treatment. However, the high throughput of community water systems requires energy-intensive processes, and renewable energy...
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doaj-7bf48afcc85b44d48e8d652176e3660c2020-11-25T03:33:04ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172020-07-01104771477110.3390/app10144771Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water PasteurizationAlberto Bologna0Matteo Fasano1Luca Bergamasco2Matteo Morciano3Francesca Bersani4Pietro Asinari5Lorenza Meucci6Eliodoro Chiavazzo7Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyCentro Ricerche SMAT, Società Metropolitana Acque Torino S.p.A., Viale Maestri del Lavoro 4, 10127 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyCentro Ricerche SMAT, Società Metropolitana Acque Torino S.p.A., Viale Maestri del Lavoro 4, 10127 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyWater pasteurization has the potential to overcome some of the drawbacks of more conventional disinfection techniques such as chlorination, ozonation and ultraviolet radiation treatment. However, the high throughput of community water systems requires energy-intensive processes, and renewable energy sources have the potential to improve the sustainability of water pasteurization plants. In case of water pasteurization by solar thermal treatment, the continuity of operation is limited by the intermittent availability of the solar irradiance. Here we show that this problem can be addressed by a proper design of the plant layout, which includes a thermal energy storage system and an auxiliary gas boiler. Based on a target pasteurization protocol validated by experiments, a complete lumped-component model of the plant is developed and used to determine the operating parameters and size of the components for a given delivery flow rate. Finally, we report an economic analysis of the proposed plant layout, which allows its optimization for different scenarios based on two design variables, namely the solar multiple and the duration of the thermal energy storage. Based on the analyzed cases, it is found that the proposed plant layouts may yield a unit cost of water treatment ranging from ≈32 EUR-cents m<sup>−3</sup> to ≈25 EUR-cents m<sup>−3</sup>.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/14/4771water treatmentpasteurizationsolar thermal energythermal energy storage |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Alberto Bologna Matteo Fasano Luca Bergamasco Matteo Morciano Francesca Bersani Pietro Asinari Lorenza Meucci Eliodoro Chiavazzo |
spellingShingle |
Alberto Bologna Matteo Fasano Luca Bergamasco Matteo Morciano Francesca Bersani Pietro Asinari Lorenza Meucci Eliodoro Chiavazzo Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization Applied Sciences water treatment pasteurization solar thermal energy thermal energy storage |
author_facet |
Alberto Bologna Matteo Fasano Luca Bergamasco Matteo Morciano Francesca Bersani Pietro Asinari Lorenza Meucci Eliodoro Chiavazzo |
author_sort |
Alberto Bologna |
title |
Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization |
title_short |
Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization |
title_full |
Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization |
title_fullStr |
Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization |
title_full_unstemmed |
Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plantfor Large-Scale Water Pasteurization |
title_sort |
techno-economic analysis of a solar thermal plantfor large-scale water pasteurization |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Applied Sciences |
issn |
2076-3417 |
publishDate |
2020-07-01 |
description |
Water pasteurization has the potential to overcome some of the drawbacks of more conventional disinfection techniques such as chlorination, ozonation and ultraviolet radiation treatment. However, the high throughput of community water systems requires energy-intensive processes, and renewable energy sources have the potential to improve the sustainability of water pasteurization plants. In case of water pasteurization by solar thermal treatment, the continuity of operation is limited by the intermittent availability of the solar irradiance. Here we show that this problem can be addressed by a proper design of the plant layout, which includes a thermal energy storage system and an auxiliary gas boiler. Based on a target pasteurization protocol validated by experiments, a complete lumped-component model of the plant is developed and used to determine the operating parameters and size of the components for a given delivery flow rate. Finally, we report an economic analysis of the proposed plant layout, which allows its optimization for different scenarios based on two design variables, namely the solar multiple and the duration of the thermal energy storage. Based on the analyzed cases, it is found that the proposed plant layouts may yield a unit cost of water treatment ranging from ≈32 EUR-cents m<sup>−3</sup> to ≈25 EUR-cents m<sup>−3</sup>. |
topic |
water treatment pasteurization solar thermal energy thermal energy storage |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/14/4771 |
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