Deep in the heart of California’s Central Valley, industrial food processing facilities use thermal energy to preserve, prepare, and package a diversity of food products. This massive operation requires 11 million megawatt hours of energy annually, presenting ample opportunity to use other energy sources, like concentrating solar-thermal power, to generate the heat and steam needed.
Since the 1880s, inventors have taken advantage of the rapid and efficient heating capabilities of solar as a thermal energy resource. More than a century later, Sunvapor’s technology is at the forefront of transforming industrial heat processing. In a new partnership with Horizon Nut, Sunvapor will demonstrate its sustainable solar collector and method for generating steam that will pasteurize, blanch, and roast nuts—namely pistachios.
Applying funds from SETO, Sunvapor designed a solar collector to cut costs and optimize the supply chain by using less energy to manufacture the structural components. Called the Green Parabolic Trough CollectorTM, this technology replaces expensive steel assemblies with wood, improving both the optical and structural functions of the collector without compromising heat generation. Coupled with a new manufacturing method, the new design and materials can cut the cost of the trough by as much as 50%.
In Sunvapor’s approach, a field of mirrored parabolic troughs direct sunlight to a receiver that’s then used to heat an intermediate working fluid. This fluid boils water that’s used to heat, dry, and clean foods. While this method can also be used to generate electricity, converting energy from sunlight directly to steam reduces energy losses, making this application both highly efficient and cost effective.
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