Thermal Stability and Eutectic Point of Chloride-Based High-Temperature Molten Salt Energy Systems
Sunghyun Yoo,
Jihun Kim,
Sungyeol Choi and
Jeong Ik Lee ()
Additional contact information
Sunghyun Yoo: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
Jihun Kim: Department of Nuclear Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Sungyeol Choi: Department of Nuclear Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
Jeong Ik Lee: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-18
Abstract:
In response to the growing impact of the climate crisis, many countries are accelerating efforts to develop sustainable and carbon-free energy solutions. This has led to increasing interest in advanced energy storage and conversion technologies, particularly the development of high-temperature molten salt energy systems. Among these, chloride salt-based molten salt systems, which offer excellent thermal properties such as high thermal conductivity, low melting points, and favorable chemical stability, are emerging as strong candidates for thermal energy storage and heat-transfer applications. This study focuses on deriving key thermophysical properties essential for selecting suitable molten salt heat-transfer fluids by examining their eutectic points and thermal stability with respect to various salt compositions. Three chloride mixtures—NaCl-MgCl 2 , NaCl-KCl-MgCl 2 , and NaCl-KCl-ZnCl 2 —were evaluated for potential use in high-temperature molten salt energy systems. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to measure the melting points and thermal stability of molten salts with various compositions near their eutectic regions. Experimental results were compared with predicted eutectic points to assess the thermal performance of each salt mixture. The findings indicate that the NaCl-KCl-MgCl 2 mixture exhibits the most promising characteristics, including a low melting point below 400 °C and superior thermal stability, making it highly suitable as a heat-transfer fluid in high-temperature molten salt energy systems. In contrast, NaCl-KCl-ZnCl 2 was found unsuitable for such applications due to its high hygroscopicity and poor thermal stability. This study provides essential data for selecting optimal molten salt compositions for the efficient and reliable operation of high-temperature molten salt energy systems.
Keywords: high-temperature molten salt energy system; thermal energy storage system (TESS); chloride salt; eutectic point; thermal stability; thermogravimetric analysis (TGA); differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/14/3616/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/14/3616/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:14:p:3616-:d:1697704
Access Statistics for this article
Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao
More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().