The company RAM Pharma in Sahab, Jordan, was founded 1992. Today around 270 employees produce different pharmaceutical products for the national and international market. There is a great process heat demand for drying and sterilisation processes which is, besides by the existing diesel driven boiler with 450 kW of thermal power, now also met by Fresnel-collectors. There is a great process heat demand for drying and sterilisation processes which is, besides by the existing diesel driven boiler with 450 kW of thermal power, now also met by Fresnel-collectors. The steam is supplied at 160°C. Furthermore, there is a hot-water-boiler, which is used for facility heating during winter. The steam is supplied at 160°C. Furthermore, there is a hot-water-boiler, which is used for facility heating during winter.

A Fresnel-collector system by the company Industrial Solar with an aperture area of 392 m² has been installed at the rooftop of the warehouse. The system was put into operation in March 2015. A variable-pressure-tank (operating pressure up to 16 bar) with a volume of 2 m³ is used as a steam-drum for condensate separation and as a storage. The steam from the steam-drum is directly fed into the steam network at 160 °C parallel to the fossil burner via pressure-regulation. The condensate from the steam-drum is re-circulated.

Feed-water with 80°C to 150°C is fed to the eighteen direct-vaporising Fresnel-collectors. The water gets mixed with the re-circulated condensate from the steam-barrel and is vaporised directly into the solar-heated absorber-pipes (x <30 %). The two-phase-mixture is separated in the steam-drum behind the collector outlet and the steam is fed via a pressure-control-valve into the customer-network. From this network, especially the heat-intensive processes of sterilising, drying and fermenting are fed. The collector-outlet-temperature depends on the store-level and can reach up to 200°C.

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The system has been designed in such a way that it can meet almost the whole heat demand during the summer. With a performance of 230 kW, a solar yield of 340 MWh/a is achieved; repeated measurements proved the performance. This equals a reduction of the diesel consumption by about 30 tons and a resulting reduction in CO₂-emissions of around 84 tons each year. The fuel costs decreased by more than 42 % during the first two years. Additionally, the collectors on the rooftop create a reduced cooling load, since they shade the rooftop and therefore less heat enters the production building.

The system’s amortisation period depends on the further development of the fuel oil price and is estimated to be around 7-10 years.

Videos with further information about the plant with Fresnel-collectors at RAM Pharma can be found on YouTube.