The industry sector accounts for a high share of the final energy consumption, with industries in EU-28accounting for a quarter of the final energy demand. Studies also show that 45 % of the industrial heatdemand in EU-27 is in a temperature range that can be supplied with present day solar collectors. Despitethis large potential, solar heat faces obstacles hindering its growth in the industrial sector. The mostsignificant obstacle is the low insight of the industrial system designs and energy demands. Those arecrucial factors for the feasibility and dimensioning of solar heating systems. Three case studies aretherefore conducted in dairy and pharmaceutical plants in order to review the most promising integrationpoints for parabolic trough solar collectors in terms of annual heat demand, temperature level andintegration effort. Two case studies are performed in dairy plants and one in a pharmaceutical plant, alllocated in Sweden. The analyses comprised reviewing energy mappings, process and instrumentationdiagrams of processes and boiler systems, and hourly energy demand data. Simulations have beencarried out with Polysun for the processes with hourly energy data available.Four integration points have been determined to be high priority solar heat integration points in dairyplants, when considering annual thermal energy demand, temperature levels and integration effort.Those are the low pressure steam line, heating of feedwater, clean in place systems and pasteurizers.Solar heat integration concepts have been presented for all the aforementioned heat sinks andsimulations have been conducted for the low pressure steam line and heating of feedwater. A significantamount of excess heat is produced as a result of fluctuating heat demands and peak solar heat productionhours. Further investigation should be carried out, in order to review the potential of supplying excessheat to other heat sinks. Despite the reviewed potential of the clean in place systems and pasteurizers,lack of the hourly energy demand has hindered further analyses of those systems. It is thereforerecommended to conduct energy measurements before taking further measures.Two integration points have been identified in the pharmaceutical plant, namely autoclaves andmultiple-effect distillers. Solar steam generation concepts have been presented for both processes. Theautoclaves are provided with 4,5 bar steam intermittently, as they work with batches and can have ondutyand off-duty intervals ranging from 3-30 minutes. The multiple-effect distillers are providedwith 7 bar steam, which is of rather high pressure for the solar collectors model on which thesimulations are based. The heat demand of the distillers is more or less constant.It was generally easier to acquire data for the integration points at the supply level. For instance, all heatsinks at the supply level had energy demand data available, contrary to the process level. This inclinesadditional focus on integration to the supply level, if the extent of the feasibility study is to be kept to aminimum.

Maintaining a constant supply of clean drinking water is among the most pressing global challenges in our time. About one-third of the population is affected by the water scarcity and it can only get worse with climate change, rapid industrialization, and the population growth. Even though nearly 70 percent of the planet is covered by water, the consumable freshwater content is only 2.5 percent of it. Unfortunately, the accessible portion of it is only 1 percent. Even so, most of the freshwater bodies are choked with pollution. Considering the vast availability of saline water on the planet and the increasing wastewater generation, seawater desalination, and wastewater treatment and recycling seem to have the potential to address current water-related issues. Therefore, it is necessary to find efficient techniques for seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. The use of nanostructured materials for these applications is becoming a popular approach due to the unique chemical and physical properties they possess compared to bulk materials Solar energy is the cleanest and most abundant renewable natural resource available. Materials for solar photothermal energy conversion are highly sought after for their cost savings, clean environment, and broad utility in providing water heating and/or steam for many applications including domestic water heating and solar-driven desalination. Extensive research efforts have been made to develop efficient solar absorbers with characteristics such as low weight, low thermal conductivity, broad solar absorption and porosity to be able to float on water to provide more efficient and cost-effective solar steam generation systems. Metal NPs have been proposed to take advantage of the high efficiency of the photothermal energy conversion associated with surface plasmon resonance absorption. Nanostructured carbon-based materials such as graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, carbonized biomass are also in use due to their excellent photothermal energy conversion ability over the range of the visible and near infra-red region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this dissertation, five projects based on the utility of nanostructured materials for desalination, photocatalysis and water treatment will be discussed. The first three projects involve the fabrication and design of plasmonic and carbon-based photothermal materials for applications in solar steam generation, water desalination, and wastewater treatment. In the fourth project, a unique shape of ZnO nanostructure was synthesized for photodegradation of organic dyes in industrial wastewater. The final project demonstrates the shape-controlled synthesis of iron carbide nanostructures and composite materials of aminated graphene oxide for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater.