Annual Report 2006 - Plataforma Solar de Almería

CONCENTRATING SOLAR SYSTEMS UNIT
Figure 3.27 Fluidized bed reactor in operation in the PSA Solar Furnace
facilities were improved, reactors were put into operation and characterized,
and each of the different processes studied in ‘SolarPRO’ was tested.
The current status of the different processes is:
- Ceramic processes: a processing plant with an open volumetric receiver
was developed for drying and baking ceramic tiles, complete
drying cycles were performed on ceramic tiles and tiles were baked at
mid-temperature (850ºC), with higher temperature cycles, and ‘third
firing’ tests expected to be undertaken shortly.
- Waste treatment: preliminary testing for thermal desorption of contaminated
soils in the fluidized bed reactor, which provides homogeneous
sample treatment. In 2007, new tests were carried out in the
solar rotary furnace.
- Powder metallurgy treatments: metals were sintered in a controlled
atmosphere using a fluidized bed reactor (acquired with ERDF funding
awarded at the same time as this program and jointly designed with
the CENIM). Due to the characteristics with which it was designed, it is
possible to work inside the solar fluidized bed reactor in a controlled
atmosphere, using concentrated solzr energy. This made it possible to
use it without fluidizing as a controlled atmosphere chamber, in which
process heat over 800ºC was achieved in air and various gases, applicable
to thermal treatments such as sintering.
Therefore, SolarPRO has made it possible to:
• Demonstrate the technological feasibility of using solar termal energy
as the energy suplí in different high-temperature industrial processes.
• Identify possible new processes that can use the solar energy supply.
• Acquire experience and sufficient know-how to undertake a second
preindustrial-scale phase of the project.
Furthermore, two collaboration agreements related to this project were signed
with two different institutions for the development of new processes and reactors
for materials treatment by concentrated solar energy:
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