Effects of reduced sulphur atmospheres on reflector materials for concentrating solar thermal applications

Garcia-Segura, A.; Fernández-García, Aranzazú; Ariza, Manuel R. Gómez; Sutter, Florian; Valenzuela, Loreto

doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2018.01.021

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Three candidate commercial solar reflectors were selected for the corrosion experiments, two second-surface silvered-glass reflectors (Types 1 and 2) and a first-surface aluminum reflector (Type 3), as described in [31]. Fig.…”

Section: Reflector Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The samples were also scratched so that all the protective and reflective layers were penetrated, exposing the metal directly to the corrosive atmosphere. The scratch has already been used in the literature [31] to represent damage that reflectors may already have undergone at a real site due to aggressive external conditions, such as sandstorms [32], careless handling, cleaning procedures [33], etc.…”

Section: Reflector Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Degradation of concentrating solar thermal reflectors in acid rain atmospheres

Garcia-Segura

Fernández-García

Ariza

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Given the importance that concentrating solar power technologies have had in recent years, the interaction between humid atmospheres in which SO 2 is the main pollutant and the metal reflecting layers of the solar concentrators is a major concern that should be addressed. Previous durability studies have urged the importance of designing an accelerated aging test protocol for simulating aggressive industrial atmospheres that solar reflector materials are bound to encounter. Therefore, three types of reflectors were tested in an acid-rain (or Kesternich) chamber at various temperatures and gas concentrations based on the DIN 50018 and ISO 6988 standards. The results showed the significant effect of high SO 2 concentrations rather than high temperatures on silvered-glass reflectors, although synergy should not be disregarded. Strong reductions in specular reflectance were found for one type of silvered reflector compared to another type, highlighting the significance of material processing and its effects on their final performance. Aluminum reflectors were not damaged as much as silvered-glass reflectors, but under microscopic inspection, a wide range of noticeable corrosion defects could be found in all the materials. Comparisons between the most representative Kesternich test and samples from an outdoor industrial site permitted realistic lifetime correlations for commercial silvered-glass reflectors.

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Section: Reflector Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reflector Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation of concentrating solar thermal reflectors in acid rain atmospheres

Garcia-Segura

Fernández-García

Ariza

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Self Cite

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“…To date, the few research studies conducted on this specific topic are devoted to the effects of humid sulfur-containing atmospheres [21,22], in addition to the studies already carried out by the authors' research group with H 2 S [23] and acid rain [24,25]. These differ from the present study in that the effect of each gas was assessed independently without comparing it to the effects of other gases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Durability Studies of Solar Reflectors Used in Concentrating Solar Thermal Technologies under Corrosive Sulfurous Atmospheres

et al. 2018

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Concentrating solar thermal (CST) technologies are a feasible and promising option to tackle worldwide energy problems. These solar facilities are sometimes located near industrial sites, where their main components—including concentrating solar reflectors—are prone to significant degradation caused by corrosive agents, especially in the presence of sulfurous atmospheres such as H2S and SO2. This paper focuses on analyzing the influence of sulfurous atmospheres on the durability of reflector materials used in CST technologies. To this end, accelerated aging tests were performed on the most commonly used materials found in solar reflectors (i.e., thick silvered glass and aluminum-based reflectors) by applying the same concentrations of H2S and SO2 under the same conditions of temperature and relative humidity. The results showed that the solar reflectors based on a silver reflective layer are significantly corroded by H2S atmospheres—several corrosion defects were found in the samples tested. However, those based on aluminum were barely affected by sulfurous environments in the conditions tested. Nonetheless, the study suggests that both reflector types are suitable candidates, depending on the purpose of the CST technology in question and the specific environmental conditions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All the reflector samples analyzed were 100 mm by 100 mm and they featured an original edge, in which the metal layers are completely covered and protected by paint layers (protected edge), and three fractured (or unprotected) edges, in which the cross-section of the metal layers was directly in contact with the corrosive atmospheres. This scheme is a common practice in durability research works [32] to properly study the influence of the weathering agents in both undamaged and pre-damaged edges. A variety of reflector samples from a number of manufacturers and subjected to two durability tests (Copper-accelerated acetic acid salt spray (CASS) and Kesternich tests, see Section 2.3) were selected for this study, to be analyzed afterwards with the two measurement techniques.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Analysis of Corroded Solar Reflectors

Buendía-Martínez

Fernández-García

Sutter³

et al. 2019

Coatings

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The corrosion of the reflective layer is one of the main degradation mechanisms of solar reflectors. However, the appropriate assessment of the corroded reflector samples is not accomplished by the current analysis techniques. On the one hand, the reflectance measurement protocol of non-damaged solar reflectors for concentrating solar thermal technologies is widely addressed in the SolarPACES reflectance guideline. However, this methodology is not adequate for reflectors whose surface is partially corroded by many kind of corrosion agents. In this work, a new measurement technique to properly assess corroded samples was developed. To check the usefulness of the method, several damaged samples (subjected to two accelerated aging tests) were evaluated with the conventional technique and with the improved one. The results showed that a significant discrepancy is observed between the two methods for heavily corroded samples, with average reflectance differences of 0.053 ppt. The visualization of the reflector images illustrated that the improved method is more reliable. On the other hand, both the corrosion products formed and the corrosion rates were identified after each corrosive test. The chemical atmosphere significantly affects the products formed, whereas the corrosion rates are influenced by the test conditions and the reflector quality.

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Effects of reduced sulphur atmospheres on reflector materials for concentrating solar thermal applications

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

Degradation of concentrating solar thermal reflectors in acid rain atmospheres

Degradation of concentrating solar thermal reflectors in acid rain atmospheres

Durability Studies of Solar Reflectors Used in Concentrating Solar Thermal Technologies under Corrosive Sulfurous Atmospheres

Advanced Analysis of Corroded Solar Reflectors

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