Molten Salt Energy Storage for a Renewable Energy Grid
William Culbreth
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Dr. Culbreth is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He and his colleagues are finishing a three year project funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research on Molten Salt Energy Storage. His current research areas include molten salt systems, nuclear waste management, and nuclear fission rocket propulsion. Kimberly Gonzalez is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and is a research assistant on the project. In Fall 2018, she begins work on her M.S. in Nuclear Engineering working on the design of nuclear fission rockets for space exploration.
Kimberly Gonzalez
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
This presenter did not provide a biography.
Abstract
Molten salt energy storage (MSES) is now used at two concentrating solar power plants in the southwestern United States. In both cases, solar salt is circulated through a solar collector or heat exchanger during the day to... [ view full abstract ]
Molten salt energy storage (MSES) is now used at two concentrating solar power plants in the southwestern United States. In both cases, solar salt is circulated through a solar collector or heat exchanger during the day to absorb heat and hot salt at 723 K is stored in a large insulated tank. Heat from the salt is transferred through a steam generator to a conventional Rankine steam cycle to produce electricity. MSES allows the plant to continue to generate electrical power at night and during intermittent cloud cover. Solar salt is a combination of potassium and sodium nitrates and their low cost and high heat capacity make them ideal for thermal energy storage. New salt mixtures have been proposed and a mixture of magnesium chloride and potassium chloride will allow operation at higher temperatures with greater thermodynamic efficiency when the heat is converted into electricity.
The low cost of photovoltaics has resulted in a significant rise in residential use in the southwestern US. Peak demand for electrical power for air conditioning extends into the evening when solar panels no longer produce power. An inexpensive storage system excess electrical power for use in the evening would help expand the use of solar power.
It is possible to efficiently convert electrical power into heat through the use of heat pumps. Heat pump performance is defined through a coefficient of performance (COP) and the COP for an ideal heat pump is the reciprocal of the efficiency of an ideal Carnot engine operating between the same high and low temperatures. Ample renewable energy from solar collectors is available only during the day and wind generators produce electrical power only when wind exceeds certain minimum speeds. Transient forms of electrical power from renewable sources can be used with heat pumps to efficiently store heat in molten salt tanks and Rankine steam cycle or CO2 Brayton cycle engines can efficiently generate electricity upon demand. A proposed system that would employ MSES to store electrical power from renewable sources will be presented.
Authors
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William Culbreth
(University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
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Kimberly Gonzalez
(University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Topic Areas
Advanced materials for energy storage , Photovoltaic and solar energy systems
Session
OS2a-A » Advanced materials for energy (16:10 - Thursday, 26th April, Auditorium)
Presentation Files
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