CSP World

The announcement has been made by Italian company Archimede Solar Energy (ASE), which will provide the Direct Steam Generation (DSG) tubes for a parabolic trough plant to produce steam.

The steam generated by the plant will feed a Pirelli's factory in Feira da Santana, in the state of Bahia. The steam will be injected in the steam circuit of the tyre factory.

The project was presented by Pirelli, Archimede Solar Energy and the Italian Ministry of the Environment, in collaboration with the Forum das Americas.

The project is the result of a collaboration agreement signed in January 2012 by the Ministry and Pirelli, which aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, within the environmental cooperation framework between Italy and Brazil.

With a peak production of 1.4 MW, this plant would be the world's largest of its kind. The Milan Polytechnic, a university that works with Pirelli in its R&D department, will carry out the preliminary study while ASE will provide the high performance DSG Receiving Tubes for concentrating solar thermal power.

This project is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by 2,000 tons over five years. The design, construction, operation and monitoring phases for this CSP Project will lay the foundation for a wider use of concentrating solar power in the industrial sector, helping reduce investment costs and increase plant efficiency.

HCESHS-12 Direct Steam Generation tubes

HCESHS-12 receiver tube uses a spectrally selective coating (manufactured under ENEA license) having the same composition applied to the receiver HCEMS-11, then it is dedicated and optimized for operating temperature of the thermo-vector fluid up to 550 °C.

In particular the inner steel tube of the HCESHS-12 has a geometry and a thermo-mechanical strength such as to optimize the performance and durability for the purpose of direct steam generation to high pressure and temperature.

The HCESHS-12 has been designed to operate with superheated steam at pressures higher than 100 barg, with a fluid temperature of 550 °C, in accordance with the international standards about the pressure piping.

The HCESHS-12 uses pill getter into the vacuum annulus. This getter permit a safe and efficient operation for the whole expected receiver life absorbing the residual gases desorbed by the metal and glass surfaces inside the annulus.