Rheological Characteristics of Molten Salt Seeded with Al 2 O 3 Nanopowder and Graphene for Concentrated Solar Power

Xin Xiao, Gan Zhang, Yulong Ding and Dongsheng Wen
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Xin Xiao: School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Gan Zhang: Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Yulong Ding: Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Dongsheng Wen: School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: HITEC salt (NaNO 2 -NaO 3 -KNO 3 ) and solar salt (NaO 3 -KNO 3 ) are typical molten salts used in concentrated solar power. Adding nanoparticles is an effective method to improve the thermo-physical properties of pure salt. It is indispensable to experimentally study the rheological behaviours of salt seeded with nanoparticles, which can increase the specific heat capacity of pure salt. In this work, the viscosities of HITEC salt were measured with different shear rates in the temperature range of 200 °C to 450 °C firstly, while those of solar salt were measured in the temperature range of 250 °C to 500 °C. The experimental data showed reasonable agreement with the literature correlations, which verify the Newtonian behaviours of pure salts. The evolutions of the viscosities of nanocomposites in the same temperature range were measured and analysed, where the nanocomposites were synthesized with 1 wt.% or 2 wt.% Al 2 O 3 nanopowder and graphene, respectively. Results showed that the addition of Al 2 O 3 nanopowder had relatively little effect on viscosity, and the variations were about −35.4%~8.1% for the HITEC salt nanocomposites and −9.2%~68.1% for the solar salt nanocomposites. While graphene would apparently increase the viscosities of HITEC salt and solar salt, HITEC salt with the addition of graphene showed slight non-Newtonian fluid behaviour.

Keywords: molten salt; aluminium oxide nanopowder; graphene; rheological behaviour (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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