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.