The parabolic trough collector field in Turnhout supplies heat to the Avery Dennison chemical plant. The collector field consists of EuroTrough parabolic trough collectors, each module of which has an aperture width of 5.77 metres and an aperture length of 12 metres.
Turnhout exhibits similar weather conditions to those found at German locations. Therefore, the plant is considered a reference case for the application of parabolic trough collectors for the supply of industrial process heat in temperate climates.
A silicone oil is used as the heat transfer fluid in the solar circuit, allowing operating temperatures of up to approximately 350 degrees Celsius to be reached. The heat is transferred via a heat exchanger to the consumer circuit, which receives target temperatures between 260 and 295 degrees Celsius. With a total collector area of 5,540 square metres, the plant achieves a thermal output of 2.5 megawatts. Since the heat demand on the consumer side fluctuates, the excess heat is stored in a concrete storage unit from the manufacturer Energy Nest, with a heat capacity of 4.5 megawatts per hour. When needed, the stored heat can then be supplied to the consumer.
The system was developed and implemented by the companies Azteq and Solarlite. The generated heat is directed to the drying ovens of the production lines, where it is used for coating adhesive tapes.
