IEA/SHC T49 activities on process heat collectors: Available technologies, technical-economic comparison tools, operation and standardization recommendations

Process temperatures found in industrial processes are manifold, ranging from low (T<100 °C), medium (100 °C < T < 250 °C) to high (T > 250 °C) operating temperatures. Whereas low temperature applications are already suited by well-established stationary collector technologies, the approach to medium temperature applications rely on a growing range of stationary and tracking collector technologies, all of them presenting products already in pre-commercial or commercial stage (TRLs 8 and 9). Considering the technical and economic challenges raised by a growing range of technologies suiting process heat application requirements, IEA/SHC Task 49 ""Solar Heat Integration in Industrial Process"" activities on Sub Task A ""Process Heat Collectors"" aim at further development, improvement and testing of collectors, collector components and collector loop components by: providing a comprehensive overview of available solar collector technologies and collector enhancement strategies; providing a basis for the technical-economic comparison of collectors and giving comprehensive recommendations for standardized testing procedures fitting the whole range of collector technologies suitable to Process Heat applications. The present article presents an overview of the activities developed in this scope and provides an insight into the most relevant results on available solar collector technologies for process heat applications, technical-economic comparison tools, operation and standardization recommendations.