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Industrial manufacturing approaches are associated with processing materials that consume a significant amount of thermal energy, termed as industrial process heat. Industrial sectors consume a substantial amount of energy for process heating over a wide range of temperatures (up to 400 °C) from agriculture, HVAC to power plants. However, the intensive industrial application of fossil fuels causes unfavorable environmental effects that cannot be ignored. To address this issue, green energy sources have manifested their potential as economical and pollution-free energy sources. Nevertheless, the adoption of solar industrial process heating systems is still limited due to a lack of knowledge in the design/installation aspects, reluctance to experience the technical/infrastructural changes, low price of fossil fuels, and lack of relative incentives. For successful solar process heat integration in industries, a proper understanding of the associated design factors is essential. This paper comprehensively reviews the integration strategies of solar industrial process heating systems, appraisal of the integration points, different aspects of solar collectors, installed thermal power, and thermal storage volume covering case studies, reports and reviews. The integration aspects of solar process heat, findings, and obstacles of several projects from the literature are also highlighted. Finally, the integration locations of SHIP systems are compared for different industrial sectors to find out the most used integration point for a certain sector and operation. It was found that for the food, beverage, and agriculture sector, 51% of solar process heat integration occurs at the supply level and 27.3% at the process-level.

High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHPs) are promising devices for reducing carbon emissions and replacing fossil fuel boilers in industries requiring hot water and steam. This study focuses on developing an HTHP system capable of achieving refrigerant temperatures above 100 °C through two stages: (1) process modeling and simulation, and (2) design, construction, and testing of the experimental device. In the modeling stage, the HTHP was designed as a two-stage cascade refrigeration system using R-134a as the working fluid in both cycles. Internal heat exchangers were incorporated to enhance efficiency via regeneration. Tap water at 25-35 °C was used as a heat source. DWSIM, an open-source process modeling tool, was employed, with thermodynamic properties sourced from CoolProp. The simulation achieved a refrigerant temperature of 109 °C, total energy consumption of 2.72 kW, a heat capacity of 6.8 kW, and a COP of 2.5. In the experimental stage, the HTHP prototype was constructed based on DWSIM design and sizing, with SolidWorks used for equipment layout and piping. The prototype successfully increased water temperature from 25-35 °C to 85-90 °C, achieving a temperature uplift of 50-60 °C. It reached a refrigerant temperature of 104.82 °C, with total energy consumption of 3.90 kW, a heating capacity of 8.90 kW, and a COP of 2.28. Comparison of simulation and experimental results showed good agreement, demonstrating DWSIM’s effectiveness in HTHP design. The payback period of the device was 1.17 years, with an initial cost of 207,366.6 Baht and annual savings of 176,862.5 Baht. The system reduced electricity consumption by 2.28 times and carbon emissions by 23.91 tCO2e annually compared to an electric hot water boiler.

The paper discusses the results of modeling of thermal radio processes for the purpose of non-destructive testing, diagnosis of dynamic states and prediction in dielectrics by sensing electromagnetic self-radiation in microwave hyperspectral mode. Measurement errors when using radiometric methods of testing have been shown. We have found the specifics of reducing measurement error while increasing the dynamics and resolution of radiometric measurements. We have presented a schematic of a new type of hyperspectrometer with higher performance and frequency resolution.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is widely consumed as food or medicinal plant due to its well-defined health benefits. The antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic effects of onion and its extracts have been reported well. However, very limited information on anti-hyperglycemic effect is available in processed onion extracts. In our previous study, we reported that Amadori rearrangement compounds (ARCs) produced by heat-processing in Korean ginseng can reduce carbohydrate absorption by inhibiting intestinal carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes in both in vitro and in vivo animal models. To prove the enhancement of anti-hyperglycemic effect and ARCs content by heat-processing in onion extract, a correlation between the anti-hyperglycemic activity and the total content of ARCs of heat-processed onion extract (ONI) was investigated. ONI has a high content of ARCs and had high rat small intestinal sucrase inhibitory activity (0.34 ± 0.03 mg/mL, IC50) relevant for the potential management of postprandial hyperglycemia. The effect of ONI on the postprandial blood glucose increase was investigated in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed on sucrose or starch meals. The maximum blood glucose levels (Cmax) of heat-processed onion extract were significantly decreased by about 8.7% (from 188.60 ± 5.37 to 172.27 ± 3.96, p < 0.001) and 14.2% (from 204.04 ± 8.73 to 175.13 ± 14.09, p < 0.01) in sucrose and starch loading tests, respectively. These results indicate that ARCs in onion extract produced by heat-processing have anti-diabetic effect by suppressing carbohydrate absorption via inhibition of intestinal sucrase, thereby reducing the postprandial increase of blood glucose. Therefore, enhancement of ARCs in onion by heat-processing might be a good strategy for the development of the new product on the management of hyperglycemia.

We report the upper and lower bounds for the levelized cost of high-temperature industrial process heat, supplied from electricity generated with solar-photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines in combination with either thermal or electric battery storage using hourly typical meteorological year (TMY) data, in systems sized to supply between 80% and 100% of continuous thermal demand at a site in the northern part of Western Australia. The system is chosen to supply high-temperature air as the heat transfer media at temperatures of 1000 °C, which is a typical temperature for an alumina or a lime calcination plant. A simplified model of the electrical energy plant has been developed using performance characteristics of real PV and wind systems and TMY data of renewable energy resources. This was used to simulate a large sample of possible system configurations and find the optimal combination of the renewable resources and storage systems, sized to provide renewable shares (RES) of between 80% and 100% of the yearly demand. This allowed the upper and lower bounds to be determined for the cost of heat based on two scenarios in which the excess energy is either dumped (upper bound) or exported to the electricity grid (lower bound) at the average generating cost. The lower bound of the levelized cost of energy (LCOEL), which occurs for the system employing thermal storage, was estimated to range from USD 10/GJ to USD 24/GJ for RES from 80 to 100%. The corresponding upper bound (LCOEU), also estimated for the system using thermal storage, are between USD 16/GJ and USD 31/GJ, for RES between 80% and 100%. The utilization of electric battery storage instead of thermal storage was found to increase the LCOE values by a factor of two to four depending on the share of renewable energy. Compared with current Australian natural gas cost, none of the systems assessed configurations is economical without either a cost for CO2 emissions or a premium for low-carbon products. The estimated cost for CO2 emission that is needed to reach parity with current natural gas prices in Australia is also presented.

Friction-stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new but already well known solid-state welding process whose main advantage with respect to fusion welding processes is the possibility to successfully weld light alloys, traditionally considered difficult to weld or unweldable. Despite the good mechanical performances that can be obtained, there exists the possibility to further improve the joints’ effectiveness through post-welding heat treatments that are however time and cost-expensive and, therefore, not best suited for industrial applications. In the present paper, the authors report the results of an experimental campaign, developed on FSW of AA7075-T6 aluminum alloy, aimed to investigate the possibility to enhance the joint performances through in process heat treatments. Welded joints were developed under three different conditions, namely, free air, forced air, and with water flowing on the surface of the joint itself. The influence of the external refrigerants was investigated at the varying of the specific thermal contribution conferred to the joint. Both mechanical and metallurgical investigations were developed on the welded joints highlighting both improvements of mechanical performances of the joints and reductions in the softening of the material when external refrigerants are used.

Currently the industrial heat demand is met by using expensive fossil fuels. Exclusive use of solar energy is not feasible due to the fluctuating pattern of solar radiation intensity. Solar hybridization with the existing heating system can be an appropriate solution to meet the process heat requirement of many industries. Concentrator Solar Thermal (CST) technologies can generate the medium temperature heat required for industrial processes. The present study was undertaken with an objective of comparing and analyzing the designed performance of the solar fields using the Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) technology against the actual measured performance values for boiler feed water preheating application at two different locations in India. The optical efficiency of the CPC collector, 64.8%, obtained when tested as per part 5 of IS 16648:2017 was used for designing the solar fields as per the daily heat requirement. The performance of the installations at both the locations was monitored for a period of five months. The observed variation in the performance of each installation than the designed performance was compared and analyzed for the causes. The average variation in designed and measured performance was in the range of 9.0% to 9.8% for location 1 and 2 respectively, attributing to heat rejection from the collector attachments and fluid transfer lines, dust effect on the absorber and reflector of CPC, instrument’s uncertainty, other losses due to shadow effect, vacuum loss from the tubes, dislocation of tubes, heat removal and usage pattern etc. The reasons of the losses from both the fields were of the similar nature, which should be taken into account to design a solar thermal system to achieve predicted performance near to the designed performance. Preheating of boiler feed water is one of the potential applications of solar CPC technology.

A dynamic model of a concentrating solar thermal array and thermal energy storage system is presented that is differentiable in the design decision variables: solar aperture area and thermal energy storage capacity. The model takes as input the geographic location of the system of interest and the corresponding discrete hourly solar insolation data, and calculates the annual thermal and economic performance of a particular design. The model is formulated for use in determining optimal hybridization strategies for industrial process heat applications using deterministic gradient-based optimization algorithms. Both convex and nonconvex problem formulations are presented. To demonstrate the practicability of the models, they were applied to four different case studies for three disparate geographic locations in the US. The corresponding optimal design problems were solved to global optimality using deterministic gradient-based optimization algorithms. The model and optimization-based analysis provide a rigorous quantitative design and investment decision-making framework for engineering design and project investment workflows.

Aviation and shipping currently contribute approximately 8% of total anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, with growth in tourism and global trade projected to increase this contribution further 1 – 3 . Carbon-neutral transportation is feasible with electric motors powered by rechargeable batteries, but is challenging, if not impossible, for long-haul commercial travel, particularly air travel 4 . A promising solution are drop-in fuels (synthetic alternatives for petroleum-derived liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene, gasoline or diesel) made from H 2 O and CO 2 by solar-driven processes 5 – 7 . Among the many possible approaches, the thermochemical path using concentrated solar radiation as the source of high-temperature process heat offers potentially high production rates and efficiencies 8 , and can deliver truly carbon-neutral fuels if the required CO 2 is obtained directly from atmospheric air 9 . If H 2 O is also extracted from air 10 , feedstock sourcing and fuel production can be colocated in desert regions with high solar irradiation and limited access to water resources. While individual steps of such a scheme have been implemented, here we demonstrate the operation of the entire thermochemical solar fuel production chain, from H 2 O and CO 2 captured directly from ambient air to the synthesis of drop-in transportation fuels (for example, methanol and kerosene), with a modular 5 kW thermal pilot-scale solar system operated under field conditions. We further identify the research and development efforts and discuss the economic viability and policies required to bring these solar fuels to market. Carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels can be produced using sunlight and air via a thermochemical solar fuel production chain, thus representing a pathway towards the long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector.

Current post-process heat treatments applied to selective laser melting produced Ti-6Al-4V do not achieve the same microstructure and therefore superior tensile behaviour of thermomechanical processed wrought Ti-6Al-4V. Due to the growing demand for selective laser melting produced parts in industry, research and development towards improved mechanical properties is ongoing. This study is aimed at developing post-process annealing strategies to improve tensile behaviour of selective laser melting produced Ti-6Al-4V parts. Optical and electron microscopy was used to study α grain morphology as a function of annealing temperature, hold time and cooling rate. Quasi-static uniaxial tensile tests were used to measure tensile behaviour of different annealed parts. It was found that elongated α’/α grains can be fragmented into equiaxial grains through applying a high temperature annealing strategy. It is shown that bi-modal microstructures achieve a superior tensile ductility to current heat treated selective laser melting produced Ti-6Al-4V samples.