Lithium in thermal energy storage: A state-of-the-art review

Abstract

a b s t r a c tLithium, mainly used in electrical energy storage, has also been studied in thermal energy storage. It is recognized as a "critical material" and is produced from minerals and from brines. Chile is one of the biggest producers, here from brine and with lower costs than in other countries. With sensible heat storage, in solar power plants lithium is seen as a way to improve the properties of molten salts used today. The low melting point in these ternary salts with lithium, represent a considerable reduction in the maintenance and operational costs associated with current solar technology, demonstrating that the fluids showed, are potential candidates for thermal energy storage (TES) in concentrated solar plants (CSP) plants. Many materials have been studied and proposed to be used as phase change materials (PCM). Between the multiple materials studied to be used in PCM, lithium materials and mixtures are listed as potential PCM for building applications and for high temperature applications. In thermochemical energy storage, lithium compounds have been used mainly in chemical heat pumps, following their use in absorption cooling.

Techno-Economic Forecasts of Lithium Nitrates for Thermal Storage Systems

“…In this line, researchers have been searching for new storage media mixtures with lower fusion temperatures to reduce freezing risk and self-consumption of energy. Recent studies have proposed salt mixtures with lithium nitrate as a potential alternative [17][18][19][20] that melt at lower temperatures than the solar salt.…”

“…The benefits of using lithium mixtures have already been observed in different TES systems. For example, low temperature TES PCMs containing lithium have been identified as useful for building applications as described in [17]. In the case of high temperature TES, lithium compounds have been identified as promising candidates to be added to KNO 3 /NaNO 3 mixtures helping to lower the solidification temperature of solar salt [17][18][19][20]25].…”

A review on energy conservation in buildings by use of Air layers and Phase Change Material

“…Broadly, TES systems involve three main steps: thermal charging, thermal storing and thermal discharging [31]. Materials can reserve heat in three primary ways, including sensible heat, latent heat and chemical reactions.…”

Thermophysical properties and corrosion characterization of low cost lithium containing nitrate salts produced in northern Chile for thermal energy storage

“…In recent years, lithium nitrate has been considered as a great additive to improve the thermal performance of molten salts [3]. These additions have shown to extend the temperature work range by lowering the melting point as well as increasing the thermal stability to higher temperatures.…”

“…Fernández et al [4] proposed the study of molten salts of more than three components as a novel approach to achieve a synergic effect between the properties of LiNO 3 and Ca(NO 3 ) 2 additives and the solar salt's components.…”