First Results from a Solar-Biomass Hybrid System for the Production of Solar Carbon

Abstract

Solar energy as well as biomass energy techniques suffers from disadvantages, which in some cases limit their potential for substituting fossil fuels. For instance, solar energy is difficult to store, and many kinds of biomass are not suited for combustion, in spite of the fact that they have high energy contents. We describe and industrial size system, which has the goal of overcoming some of these limitations by combining solar- and biomass power. This is achieved by roasting residual biomass by means of hot air provided by solar power only. The solar power is collected by three “Linear Mirror” solar concentrator, they are designed to achieve high efficiency also at northern latitudes. Each one is equipped with an innovative solar-air heat exchanger. The hot air is delivered to a roasting device filled with humid residual biomass. We report the performance of this system from a first commissioning run. The system is intended to help create a closed-cycle economy by means of transforming waste biomasses to a high-quality combustible.