Abstract

This work analyses the fraction of total load that can be

supplied by solar thermal technology using flat plate
collectors. DDC, Lainchaur, which processes 60,000 litre of
milk per day has been taken as the basis for this study, since
most of the private dairy industries are smaller than this.
Technically, two isolated solar thermal storage tanks were
used in conjunction with a collector array. The hot water
collected from the first tank at the end of each day would be
used in the boiler as feed water in the next morning. The
second tank would then be used to store hot water for the next
day. In this way each tank would supply and store energy on
alternate days.
Initial screening was done by simulation using Matlab from
which the average temperatures that can be achieved per day
for each month in a water storage tank of 2,500 litres were
calculated and total energy gained annually on this
temperature basis was calculated. Again, the total energy
gained annually was calculated by total area of collector used.
Energy gained by the area basis was found to be more by
7.17% only. This was due to the fact that losses in tank and
connecting pipes were not accounted while calculating by area
basis. The legitimacy of the above findings were checked by
F-Chart [6] method and found that the fraction of total load
supplied by area basis was only 1.17% more than that
calculated value from F-chart method .Thus all further
calculations were carried out using area basis.
It was determined that use of Solar Water Heating System
with 55 square meter of collector area and two insulated hot
water tank storage of 2,500 litres capacity each, can reduce the
diesel fuel consumption by 5,843.27 litres annually for the
size of the dairy considered i.e. a dairy of capacity of 60,000
litres milk processing per day. The CO
2
emission reduced
by15, 659.98 kg annually. The project is financial viable since
its Net Present Value is positive.
Index terms: Solar radiation, Solar thermal system, Total fraction,
F-chart.
1. Introduction
Most industries in Nepal use diesel and kerosene boilers to
meet their hot water requirements. Some of the industries that
heavily depend on fossil fuel boilers for hot water are: hotels,
dyeing factories, carpet washing factories, breweries, and
dairies. Efficient solar water heaters can replace water boilers
in hotels, dyeing and carpet washing industries almost
completely and can be used to preheat water up to 60 degree
centigrade in breweries and dairies. With these industries
using diesel and kerosene for heating water, large amounts of
GHGs are emitted every day. Under the recent energy scenario
where fossil fuel prices are skyrocketing, using high efficiency
solar water heaters can be a potential alternative. Meanwhile,
the solar water heating technologies are getting more efficient
and affordable. The upfront investments required installing a
locally assembled high quality solar water-heating system can
be paid back within 3 to 4 years from the savings made
through avoided use of fossil fuels. Solar water heating
systems are available with 20 plus years of "trouble free"
guarantees. This proves solar water heating systems to be
much more economical than diesel/kerosene boilers in terms
of life-cycle cost. Apart from being economical, solar water
heaters are environment friendly. They are zero-emission
energy providers and contribute towards cleaning the local air
as well as reducing GHG emissions.
2. Research methodology
Every research needs systematic tools and methods in order to
make remarkable achievements. Nowadays simulation of the
model in computer is done at first in order to assess the
feasibility of the actual model as well as to realize the
performance of the system in advance. Then only the real
model is built and experiment is conducted in it. In this
research also, the basic steps followed during the study
periods are:
a. Solar thermal System Design
b. Simulation of the Solar Thermal System
c. Financial Analysis
2.1. Design of Solar Thermal System
The solar thermal system design is done for the boiler used in
the DDC, Lainchaur, Kathamandu, which processes 60,000
litres of milk per day. The designed solar thermal system
would be used to heat the feed water of the boiler. The design
is done under the consideration that certain amount of water is
heated in a day by solar thermal system is stored in highly
insulated tank which is used next day as feed water to the
boiler. As rule of thumb 50 to 100 litres of water storage is
required for per square meter of collector area [17]. From
Study on Diesel Fuel Consumption Reduction in Dairy
Industries by Application of Solar Thermal Energy.

Ramendra Kumar Rabindra Nath Bhattarai
M.Sc. Renewable Energy Engineering
Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering
Tribhuvan University
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering
Tribhuvan University

observation in DDC, Lainchaur, water consumed by boiler per
shift per day is 1,820 litres and for design purpose 2,500 litres
of water is taken. Here 55 m
2
of collector area would be used.
Depending on different observations and readings that were
taken in the boiler under running condition in DDC, Lainchaur
the solar thermal system is designed.
2.2. Solar radiation Intensity
The solar radiation data taken from NASA and compared with
data of SWERA [12] and noted that annual average difference
between the data from the two sources is only 1.159 %, thus
the data provided by NASA can be used with negligible error.
Therefore the radiation data for tilted surface is directly used
from the data provided by NASA.
2.3. Inlet Water Temperature for Load Analysis
Table: 2.3 below show the monthly average temperature of
Kathmandu [9] which is used as the inlet water temperature to
the solar thermal collector and used in load analysis.
2.4. Simulation of the Solar Thermal System
The performance of the systems as shown in figure 2.4 was
modeled by a simulation program written in MATLAB
programming .The program calculates the solar gain for the
specified system based on the insolation ,ambient temperature,
the latitude ,the parameters specifying the solar collector
system and the volume of storage tank. Since the daily hourly
radiation data is not available, average monthly insolation and
similarly average monthly ambient temperature is used for
calculation .The simulation gives the maximum temperature
that the storage tank water can attain at end of each day of
each month in average. Finally the average monthly daily
temperatures are used to calculate the maximum energy per
month and then annually that can be obtained by using the
thermal system under consideration and load fraction supplied
by it.
Mathematical modeling of simple collector and storage tank:
During a particular instant energy balance equation of solar
collector relating the temperature T
co
of the circulated water
at the solar collector exit and inlet temperature T
cin
can be
given from equation:
(T
co
-T
cin
)**C
w
= I*Area*
Where,
= Collector efficiency
Area = Area of collector
I = Irradiance
= mass flow rate
C
w
= Specific heat of water
From which we can calculate temperature T
co
of water exit
form collector as given
T
co
= T
cin
+ (I*Area*)/(*C
w
) .. (1)
The collector efficiency can be calculated using the equation:
= F
r
()-(F
r
U
c
)*{(T
i
-T
a
)/I} (2)
T
i
= T
cin
=Inlet water temperature to the collector
T
a
= Ambient temperature around the collector
From selected collector type and its efficiency () plot against
((T
i
-T
a
)/I), we can get
F
r
() = Intercept of the plot
(F
r
U
c
) = Slope of the plot
Energy balance equation between collector and storage tank
with water:
For initial second:
m (T
co
-T
cin
) * C
w
= M (T
T
-T
cin
)
M = mass of water in storage tank
Solving we get: T
T
= T
cin
+ (m *(T
co
-T
cin
))/M .... (3)
Now this temperature T
T
becomes inlet temperature T
cin
to
the collector for next second. In this way the temperature at
the end of last second of average each day per month is
calculated, where total number of second per average day is
determined by multiplying peak sun hour of that day by 3,600
s per hour.
TABLE: 2.3 AVERAGE TEMPERATURE PER MONTH (T, C)
Month Jan Feb March April May Jun July August Sept Oct Nov Dec
Temp. 8 11 16 20 22 23 23 23 22 18 14 10

Solar Collector
Tco

T
T

Tcin
S
t
o
r
a
g
e

t
a
n
k

P
M
Figure: 2.4
Output temperatures for 12 months individuals average per
day (final temperature in table: 2.5a) are used for calculating
the energy supplied by the installed system.
2.5. Calculation of Energy Delivered by Temperature Basis:
In the table: 2.5a the average energy per month that can be
stored at the end of each day in the storage tank has calculated
where initial temperature of the storage tank water is assumed
to be equal to the average ambient temperature per day per
month.
A sample calculation for January:
Average ambient temperature = C
Mass of water per shift per day = 2,500kg
Specific heat capacity of water = 4,200J/kgC
Final temperature that can be achieved at the
end of the each day = 60.69C
Energy Per day in January = 2500*4200*(60.69-8)
= 553.32MJ
Average Monthly Energy Collected =
30*553.32=16,599.6MJ
Similarly calculating energy collected in remaining months
total energy delivered annually is obtained. Finally in the
table: 2.5b energy delivered by the thermal system annually is
converted into equivalent fuel saved and emission reduction is
calculated.
2.6. Calculation of Energy delivered by area basis
Now in this section again maximum energy that can be
provided by the system considered has been calculated but on
the basis of area.


Table: 2.5b shows the equivalent fuel saved and emission
reduction on area basis.
2.7. Fractional Energy Supplied by Solar Thermal System
In this section the legitimacy of the data of diesel consumption
provided by DDC Lainchaur has been verified so that the
exact fraction of total energy consumed by boiler that is being
provided by the solar thermal system could be calculated.
Theoretically the energy generated by the boiler in the form of
water steam is calculated and using the efficiency of boiler
0.6, the total amount of energy required to be given in boiler is
calculated which is converted in terms of total diesel
consumed. Now this calculated amount of diesel is compared
with the data of diesel consumption annually provided by
DDC, Lainchaur. Input energy to the boiler is calculated to be
22,99010MJ annually. Equivalent Diesel required is
63,159.61Litres annually. Comparing with the provided diesel
consumption data of the DDC, it is only less by 3.39 %
annually. This deviation is due to the fact that sometimes the
industry runs two shifts per day. After this analysis we can
rely on data of diesel consumed annually provided by DDD,
Lainchaur. Now fraction (F) of this energy being supplied by
solar thermal system can be calculated on area basis:
Total Fraction (f) =
Total energy supplied by Solar Thermal System
annually (in terms of diesel saving )
Total enrgy required by Boiler alone as input
annually(in terms diesel consumed )

= 5423.96/65377 = 0.0829 = 8.3%


TABLE: 2.5a ENERGY DELIVERED BY TEMPERATURE BASIS
Month
Av.Tem.
/ Month
(T C)
Vol. of Water
Req. /day shift (kg)
Cp
(J/kg C)
Final Tem.
(Th C)
Monthly Av./day Energy
(MJ)
Avg. Monthly
Energy
(MJ)
Jan 8 2500 4200 60.6983 553.33215 16599.9645
Feb 11 2500 4200 68.4495 603.21975 18096.5925
Mar 16 2500 4200 75.7075 626.92875 18807.8625
Apr 20 2500 4200 78.2736 611.8728 18356.184
May 22 2500 4200 76.7833 575.22465 17256.7395
Jun 23 2500 4200 71.1249 505.31145 15159.3435
Jul 23 2500 4200 65.4118 445.3239 13359.717
Aug 23 2500 4200 66.9549 461.52645 13845.7935
Sep 22 2500 4200 66.6399 468.71895 14061.5685
Oct 18 2500 4200 72.9819 577.30995 17319.2985
Nov 14 2500 4200 70.0967 589.01535 17670.4605
Dec 10 2500 4200 63.6475 563.29875 16898.9625

Yearly En. (MJ)=197432.487

2.8. Fractional Energy Supplied by Solar Thermal System
using F-Chart method.
Sample calculation for January:
From specification of selected collector,
F
R
() = 0.706, F
R
U
L
= 4.19
Monthly average temperature, Ta = 8C
Standard reference Temperature, T
ref
= 100C
Monthly average solar radiation, H
T
=2 0.92 MJ/m
2

Collector Area, A
c
= 55m
2

Monthly Average Load is taken from load analysis
Which is (using efficiency of boilers = 0.6)
L = 116942.55/0.6 = 19, 4904.25 MJ
X = F
R
U
L
*(Tref- Ta) * *A
c
/L
= 4.19*(100-8)*31*86400*55/ (116942.55*103)
= 0.47
Y = F
R
() n*H
T
N*A
c
/L
= 0.706*20.92*106*31*55/ (116942.55*106)
= 0.21
f = 1.029Y 0.065X 0.245Y
2
+ 0.0018X
2
+ 0.0215Y
3

(For liquid system)
= 0.17
Similarly calculation for different months was done using
Excel spreadsheet. Finally, annually fraction of the load
supplied by solar energy is calculated as:
F = fl/L = (12587.19)/(191584.17) = 0.0657 6.6 %
2.9. Financial Analysis:
The initial installation cost of the system would be NRs
2,594,112.5.Since there was only one running cost of
centrifugal pump and negligible repair and maintenance cost
for initial 15 year, 3% of initial cost was taken as annual
running cost. From area basis analysis, it was found that
annual amount of diesel fuel that could be saved is 5,423.96
litres. Now using the price of diesel per litre NRs.100 [10],
annual cost of fuel saved was calculated to NRs. 5, 36,972.04
(5,423.96100).This saving in fuel cost was taken as the
annual income.
Initial Investment (P) = NRs.25, 94,112.5
Annual Cost(C) =3% of P = NRs.77, 823.375
Annual Income (E) = NRs. 5, 42,396
Useful Life of the System (N) = 15 Years
Discounted Payback period and Net Present Value were
calculated using four different interest rates 8%, 10%, 12%
and 14% respectively. From calculation, it was seen that in all
cases net present value is positive so the project is financially
feasible. Payback period increases from 8 to 12 years as
interest rates increases from 8% to 14%.
2.10. Results and Conclusions
The solar water heating system with 55 square meters of
collector area and two insulated hot water storage tanks of
2,500 litres capacity each was implemented in a dairy with a
capacity of 60,000 litres milk processing per day. The results
are listed below:
Fractional contribution by temperature basis and area
basis differs by 7.17% due to the fact that losses
in pipes and storage tank were not accounted while
calculating by area basis.
Fractional contribution by area basis and F-chart
method differed by only 1.7% which can be
concluded that the approach was in right direction.
TABLE: 2.5b FUEL AND EMISSION REDUCTION

Diesel Quantity Energy Equivalent
1 Litre 36.4MJ[5]
Temperature Basis
Annually Energy Saved by Solar Thermal System =19,7432.487 MJ
Which is Equivalent =197432.487/36.4 = 5,423.96 Litre of Diesel
Saved Per year.
Area basis
Annually Energy Saved by Solar Thermal System =19,7432.487 MJ
Which is Equivalent =212695.3728/36.4 = 5,843.27 Litre of Diesel Saved Per year.

Diesel Quantity Burned CO2 Emitted
1 Litre 2.68 kg[5]
Temperature Basis
Annually Diesel Saved=5423.96 Litre
Which is Equivalent =5,423.96*2.68=14,536.23 Kg of CO2 Emission reduced.
Area Basis
Annually Diesel Saved=5423.96 Litre
Which is Equivalent =5843.27*2.68=15,659.98 kg of CO2 Emission reduced.

It was found that 5,843.27 litres of diesel would be
saved annually wherein present annual consumption
is 65,377 litres of diesel.
It was found that 15,659.98 kg of CO
2
emission
would be reduced annually.
In industrial sector an investment is taken as
attractive if the payback period is 3 to 4 year. Thus
the system considered is not attractive from
investors point of view as payback period is above 8
year. Though being renewable energy system, it is
still beneficial from environmental point of view and
Net Present Value is positive during the life span of
the project.
Above findings led to the conclusion that solar thermal
technology using flat plate and evacuated collector can be
used to reduce the diesel fuel requirement for small to medium
scale dairy industry processing less than 60,000 litres of milk
per day. That is economical and environment friendly. It is to
be noted that for large scale dairy industry and for large
fractional contribution concentrated solar power should be
used.
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