Molten Salts and Applications III: Worldwide Molten Salt Technology Developments in Energy Production and Storage

Abstract

Supported by Office of Naval Research (ONR), this paper presents a survey of molten salt technology used in solar power storage. Excess energy from solar power stations and other baseline power production methods can be stored in molten salts (MS) in the 565°C range, therefore allowing the use of large containers to store energy for up to a week and generate eight hours of electricity or more to be used during peak demand hours, at night, or adverse weather conditions, depending on the container size. The technology could also be used to conserve the spin off energy in the grids from nuclear or coal power production. Real life examples of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, both domestically and worldwide, are presented with details about the type of solar collection, capacity, and energy production. Commercial solar power stations have been constructed in the United States and overseas, particularly in Spain, with molten salt being considered for use in these facilities. Some facilities use a field of flat mirrors and collection towers while others use parabolic troughs.

Techno-Economic Assessment of Molten Salt-Based Concentrated Solar Power: Case Study of Linear Fresnel Reflector with a Fossil Fuel Backup under Saudi Arabia’s Climate Conditions

“…The majority of CSP facilities typically have a capacity of 50 MW. This emphasizes the significance of medium-sized turbine capacity in CSP plants and highlights the expertise of leading countries such as Spain, the United States, and China, which have extensive experience in deploying multiple CSP installations [8,14,34,35]. The commercial deployment of LFR technology is currently limited compared to PTC.…”

“…The utilization of molten salt (MS) in conjunction with the LFR approach has been demonstrated as an effective option for achieving an optical efficiency of up to 55% [14]. The LFR is known as a form of CSP that generates medium-temperature steam up to 400 • C, but thanks to the molten salt characteristics, it could reach as high as 565 • C in certain conditions [15,18].…”

“…However, it has several thermodynamic drawbacks, including lower optical and conversion efficiencies, lower output steam temperatures, high cosine losses, and a lower concentration ratio compared to other CSP types [10][11][12][13]. Since the SF's outlet temperature is relatively low compared to the point focusing technique, the LFR is known as a suitable option for direct steam generation; however, recently, it has exhibited a promising capacity to utilize different HTF to produce steam indirectly at higher temperatures [14][15][16][17].…”

Continuous Purification of Molten Chloride Salt: Electrochemical Behavior of MgOHCl Reduction

“…Molten chloride salts have been identified as prime heat transfer fluids and thermal energy storage media in the next generation of concentrating solar power (CSP) and nuclear plants. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Particularly, a Mg-K-Na chloride blend (45.98-38.91-15.11 wt%) has received significant attention due to its low cost, widespread availability, and favorable thermohydraulic properties. [13][14][15][16] However, MgCl 2 readily hydrolyzes to form corrosive MgOHCl.…”