Development and analysis of a new direct steam generation-based parabolic trough collector power plant hybridized with a biomass boiler

Abstract

Direct steam generation (DSG) is the process by which steam is directly produced in parabolic trough fields and supplied to a power block. This process simplifies parabolic trough plants and improves cost effectiveness by increasing the permissible temperature of the working fluid. In the present work, an innovative DSG plant hybridized with a biomass boiler is proposed and analyzed in detail. Two additional configurations comprising indirect steam generation in parabolic trough collector (PTC) plants were also analyzed in order to compare their energy and exergy performance. In addition, energy and exergy analyses of DSG are conducted and compared to an existing indirect steam generation PTC power plants such as the Andasol. To further understand the biomass subsystem, multiple fuels were presented and analyzed in detail. The obtained results indicate that the proposed DSG-based PTC plant is able to increase the overall system efficiency by 3% in comparison to indirect steam generation when linked to a biomass boiler that supplies 50% of the energy.