Solar industrial process heating: A review

A significant share of final energy consumption in the industrial sector is used for meeting the process heating applications at low and medium temperatures (up to 250 C). Solar industrial process heating is being considered as one of clean and renewable energy options in many countries of the world. An attempt to present a review of the available published literature on solar industrial process heating has been made in this paper. The aspects included in the review are utilization potential, present status, suitable solar collectors, design and integration aspects, performance evaluation, economic and environmental assessment, barriers to large scale adoption and case studies etc.