Thermohydraulic analysis of single phase heat transfer fluids in CSP solar receivers

Tim Conroy, Maurice N. Collins, James Fisher and Ronan Grimes

Renewable Energy, 2018, vol. 129, issue PA, 150-167

Abstract: Theoretical modelling techniques are used to compare the thermohydraulic performance and thermal storage characteristics of molten salt, liquid sodium, and lead-bismuth in a CSP solar receiver concept. For molten salt, the performance of a number of heat transfer augmentation techniques are also studied. Sodium and lead-bismuth both yield excellent receiver thermal efficiency (max ∼92%), when compared to molten salt (max ∼90%), due to high thermal conductivity values that lead to large heat transfer coefficients. A high pressure drop penalty for lead-bismuth largely offsets its thermal performance gain over molten salt, however sodium retains its advantage as a receiver working fluid with a low pumping parasitic. The implementation of heat transfer enhancement techniques can significantly improve the performance of a molten salt receiver when compared to smooth tube designs. The low specific heat capacity and high unit cost of lead-bismuth is prohibitive towards its use as a storage medium in storage-integrated plant designs, resulting in very high LCOE values. Sodium is the most economically feasible fluid for systems with low storage (<3 h), however the low per-unit cost and high specific heat capacity of molten salt means that this is the most effective working fluid in systems with larger storage requirements.

Keywords: Concentrated solar power; Solar receiver; Molten salt; Liquid metals; Thermohydraulic performance; Thermal storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:129:y:2018:i:pa:p:150-167

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.05.101

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