Pre-heating Boiler Feedwater for Expanded Cork Agglomerate Production Using a Parabolic Trough System

The production of expanded cork agglomerate involves significant heat demand, requiring superheated steam at temperatures ranging from 300 degrees C to 370 degrees C. The energy required to this process can be suitably provided by concentrating solar thermal collectors. This work considers the thermal energy needs of a real plant, presenting the technical and economical analysis performed for a solar heat for industrial process system using parabolic trough collectors to preheat the feedwater used by the boiler providing steam to the expanded cork agglomerate production process.