Solar Thermal Technologies for Process Heat: Applications in Oil and Gas Industries

A substantial share of energy demand in the industrial sector is in the form of heat for process applications. The temperature requirements for process heat, particularly for the oil production and petrochemical industries, are around 150-500 °C for the processes such as oil recovery, quenching, stripping, fractionation, etc. Depending on the characteristics of the oil field, it requires 2 to 4 barrels of steam to produce a barrel of oil. Most of the existing processes in the oil and gas industries utilize fossil fuels to meet their heat requirement, which increases the carbon footprint that profoundly affects global warming. Solar energy is available globally and is a potentially sustainable solution to fulfill the energy demand and control the triggering results of pollution on the environment. Solar thermal energy technologies can generate heat ranging from 50 °C to 1000 °C based on the selection of solar collectors. Further, medium- to high-temperature steam can be generated using concentrating solar power systems which can replace conventional fuel boilers. This chapter deals with the implementation of solar heat for various processes in the oil and gas industries. In addition, the selection of appropriate solar thermal technologies to meet the process heat demand are discussed in detail, along with their economics and environmental effects. Further, the integration of solar thermal technologies with the existing setup of oil and gas industries has been discussed.