2011-09 In parabolic trough power plants usual in solar heating technology trough-shaped mirrors focus incidental solar radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector.

In this process, the energy of the solar radiation is used to heat a heat transfer fluid in this pipe. In the actual power plant, a heat exchanger generates steam which is used to produce electric power – as it is the case with conventional power plants. If a thermal storage is integrated into the system, the electric power can even be produced after sunset.

In this process, the heat transfer fluid is heated up to 400 °C and thus exposed to extreme thermal load which requires regeneration in prescheduled intervals.

GEA Wiegand developed a fully automatic distillation plant which now is used for the first time in three Spanish solar thermal power stations. The plant is designed as skid-mounted unit so that a mobile use is also possible. Compared to conventional plants, the GEA Wiegand distillation plant is characterised by higher separation factors and therefore a higher degree of regeneration for the heat transfer fluid.

GEA Wiegand is a company of GEA Group AG in the Process Engineering Segment and is active in the six fields of evaporation, distillation, filtration, jet pumps, vacuum systems and scrubbing system with the design and the construction of plants, mainly in the food industries, the chemical and petrochemical industry and the environmental sector.