40 Pages Posted: 26 Jan 2026
Abstract
In common application of Thermal Desorption, energy demand is met with fossil fuels to generate the heat required to remediate polluted matrix. Modelling and simulation activities were performed to identify a renewable-driven thermal desorption (TD) system. By using Ansys Fluent and customizing simulation through User-Defined Functions (UDFs), a TD configuration was based on the coupling of a concentrating solar power (CSP) system, the parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) and Therminol-VP1 as heat transfer fluid (HTF), with conduction heating tubes (TCH), drawing inspiration from existing industrial TD solutions, while extending the approach to renewable integration. Solar radiation intensity was evaluated for the specific coordinates of Gela (Italy), a place for the exploitation of solar radiation due to its climate conditions. The modelling approach required several simplifying assumptions to manage the complexity of the heat transfer processes involved, but it demonstrated the feasibility of replacing conventional fossil-based energy inputs with solar thermal energy. Evaluation was referred to the PTC area required to meet the remediation target conditions for hydrocarbons polluted soils, which are mainly depending on the characteristics of the soil (in particular the water content) rather than on the contamination content. Furthermore, an alternative scenario was investigated, in which the same heating tube was repurposed as a Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) system, underscoring the dual applicability of the design for both remediation and geothermal storage as site reuse option. The results obtained were related to the implementation of a potential pilot plant, for which a preliminary economic estimate was carried out.
Keywords: Thermal Desorption, Hydrocarbons, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Renewable source, Site reuse
Suggested Citation:
Licitra, Enrico and Saadaoui, Hatem and Haemers, Jan and Di Bella, Gaetano, Solar-driven Thermal desorption: a modelling approach. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6135529 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6135529