Molten salt for advanced energy applications: A review

Roper, R.; Harkema, Megan; Sabharwall, Piyush; Riddle, Catherine L.; Chisholm, Brandon; Day, Brandon; Marotta, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108924

Cited by 121 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Some of the major drawbacks of molten salt PCMs, apart from their low conductive nature, are their corrosive nature and which affects their storage media, other than the transfer of heat from one media to another, especially during discharge. 25 Several thermodynamic and mechanical aspects of molten salt PCMs are studied by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA. DSC/TGA (for three melting-cooling cycles) was used for thermal characterisation of the ternary molten-salt compound NaCl-KCl-MgCl 2 (19.6-20.4-59.98 wt%) from 393 to 723 K. The average melting point was observed to be 653 K, with a fusion heat of 198.55 kJ/kg.…”

Section: Phase Changing Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But molten salts as PCMs are studied most extensively for reduction of TES costs. Some of the major drawbacks of molten salt PCMs, apart from their low conductive nature, are their corrosive nature and which affects their storage media, other than the transfer of heat from one media to another, especially during discharge 25 . Several thermodynamic and mechanical aspects of molten salt PCMs are studied by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA.…”

Section: Phase Changing Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Molten salts as thermal energy storage (TES) materials are gaining the attention of researchers worldwide due to their attributes like low vapor pressure, non‐toxic nature, low cost and flexibility, high thermal stability, wide range of applications etc. This review presents potential applications of molten salts in solar and nuclear TES and the factors influencing their performance. Ternary salts (Hitec salt, Hitec XL) are found to be best suited for concentrated solar plants due to their lower melting point and higher efficiency. Two‐tank direct energy storage system is found to be more economical due to the inexpensive salts (KCl‐MgCl2), while thermoclines are found to be more thermally efficient due to the power cycles involved and the high volumetric heat capacity of the salts involved (LiF‐NaF‐KF). Heat storage density has been given special focus in this review and methods to increase the same in terms of salt composition changes are discussed in the paper. Methods of concatenating energy storage systems with nuclear power plants are also discussed with different types of nuclear reactors like MHTGR, PAHTR, VHTR, etc. Nanomodifications of molten salts are done to improve heat transfer properties and efficiency of the transfer. The best dopants for such modifications were found to be TiO2, SiO2, MWCNTs, etc. Future challenges for large scale deployment of molten salts viz., high volume expansion ratio, low thermal conductivity, incongruent melting, corrosion, etc., are listed and discussed. Corrosion of molten salts and its mitigation has been discussed in detail for developing next‐generation storage systems and its remedies are also discussed.

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Section: Phase Changing Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phase Changing Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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“…It holds remarkable promises of no need for fuel assembly fabrication, flexible and diverse fuel types/ loadings, online reprocessing and deep depletion, and is considered to have the ability to achieve high breeding for either thermal or fast spectrum. [6][7][8][9][10] In an MSR, the thorium breeding capability mainly depends on its neutron spectrum, fuel reprocessing scheme and power density (PD). To comprehensively evaluate the thorium breeding capability of an MSR, a 233 Pa point-depletion equation is introduced in the following.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of power density on the breeding performance of molten salt reactors

Chen

Zhang

Zou

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary A liquid‐fueled molten salt reactor (MSR) can be flexibly designed with a broad range of power density (PD) and neutron spectrum, both of which have a strong impact on the breeding performance of the fuel cycle. In this work, a thermal single fluid double‐zone Th‐based MSR (SD‐TMSR) and an improved molten salt fast reactor (IMSFR) with different PDs ranging from 40 to 300 MWth/m3 are introduced to evaluate the breeding performance. The results indicate that the breeding ratios for the pure Th‐U (BRTU) and the fissile fuel (BRfis) at equilibrium state are negatively correlated with PD. As the PD increases from 40 to 300 MWth/m3, the BRTU declines by about 9.2% and 5.6% in the SD‐TMSR and IMSFR, respectively, due to the decreases in the probability of the natural decay and extraction of 233Pa in its total vanishment and of the ratio of the 232Th capture rate to the 233U absorption rate. Meanwhile, the BRfis keeps about 6% lower than the BRTU in both the cores because of the larger absorption cross sections of 235U and 239Pu than the capture cross sections of their parent nuclides. Owing to the low capture‐to‐fission ratios of minor actinides (MAs) and the reduced absorption cross sections of fission products, the BRTU and BRfis in the IMSFR keep about 6% higher than those in the SD‐TMSR when PD varies from 40 to 300 MWth/m3. In addition, the net 233U production can achieve the highest value of 60.5 kg/year at 90 MWth/m3 in the SD‐TMSR, and it is 154.9 kg/year at 200 MWth/m3 in the IMSFR. Although the net 233U production in the IMSFR is higher than that in the SD‐TMSR, the doubling time (DT) keeps larger in the IMSFR with the increase of PD from 40 to 100 MWth/m3 due to its higher initial loading of fissile material. In addition, the highest net 233U production of 154.9 kg/year in the IMSFR with a PD of 200 MWth/m3 can be used as the igniting fissile fuel for the SD‐TMSR, in which the corresponding DT is as short as 8.3 years. In conclusion, to achieve a thorium breeding in MSRs with different neutron spectra, a small PD less than 150 MWth/m3 is preferred to achieve a positive breeding gain and a positive net 233U production in the SD‐TMSR, while a higher PD ranging from 150 to 200 MWth/m3 is more attractive to acquire a higher net 233U production of more than 146 kg/year and a shorter DT of less than 35 years in the IMSFR.

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“…Zirconium and its alloys are widely investigated due to their low neutron-capture cross-section and special use in the nuclear field such as protection against corrosion and catalysis. 1 With the development of the application of zirconium products, residues and wastes are being rapidly produced. 2,3 Except for polluting the environment, the residues and wastes contain a large amount of zirconium, which is free of hafnium and valuable and difficult to obtain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%