SBIR Phase I: Advanced Molten Salt Heat Transfer and Thermal Storage Material for Central Receiver Solar Thermal Power Generation

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目建议开发一种用于中央接收器太阳能热发电的新型熔盐换热和储热材料。太阳能热技术开发商正在推动提高他们系统的运行温度，从而降低他们统一的电力成本，并降低储能成本。已知的用于换热流体的盐混合物熔点高(通常超过300°C)或热稳定性不足。在这项工作中，我们将实施高通量材料发现计划，以快速筛选2000多种独特的无机盐混合物，并发现一种新的共晶混合物，其低熔点为200°C，最高温度为700°C。目前，市场上任何商业可行的材料都无法提供这种广泛的操作范围。发现新的共晶混合物是一个组合问题，因为可能的混合物的数量随着成分的数量而指数增加。我们将把最初为制药应用而开发的组合化学技术应用到一个新的领域：太阳能热材料。在这个项目中，我们将把高通量发现工具的能力(用于快速材料合成和表征)与优化的实验设计方法(以有效地限制设计空间)结合起来。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力解决了人们对能源的迫切担忧。目标是不分昼夜地提供廉价的太阳能。我们必须减少化石燃料(特别是煤炭)的使用，以解决社会关注的问题：气候变化和环境退化、能源安全和价格波动。太阳能热电是一种引人注目的可再生电力来源，是过度使用化石燃料的一种可能解决方案。然而，太阳能热电目前的成本太高，无法与化石燃料直接竞争。此外，尽管太阳能热电厂有能力储存热量，以便在日落后发电，但这对工厂开发商来说是一笔巨大的资本成本。为了实现大规模部署并与化石燃料竞争，整个太阳能热能行业都迫切需要降低成本并开发可行的热存储。这些工厂的核心是传热液和储热材料。预计到2020年，这一关键部件的市场规模将达到55亿美元。这项拟议中的创新的商业化既可以降低太阳能热电的成本，又可以实现经济的储热，使美国离消除煤炭的使用又近了一大步。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes developing a novel molten salt heat transfer and thermal storage material for central receiver solar thermal power generation. Solar thermal technology developers are pushing to increase the operating temperature of their systems, thereby lowering their levelized cost of electricity and reducing the cost of energy storage. Known salt mixtures considered for heat transfer fluids have high melting points (typically over 300 °C) or insufficient thermal stability. In this effort, we will conduct a high throughput materials discovery program to rapidly screen over 2000 unique mixtures of inorganic salts and to discover a novel eutectic mixture with a low melting point of 200 °C and a high maximum temperature of 700 °C. This broad operating range is currently unavailable with any commercially viable material in the marketplace. Discovering new eutectic mixtures is a combinatorial problem, since the number of possible mixtures increases exponentially with the number of components. We will apply combinatorial chemistry techniques, originally developed for pharmaceutical applications, to a new field: solar thermal materials. In this project, we will combine the power of high throughput discovery tools (for fast materials synthesis and characterization) with an optimized methodology for experiment design (to efficiently constrain the design space). The broader impact/commercial potential of this project addresses pressing concerns about energy. The goal is cheap solar power, day and night. It is imperative that we reduce our usage of fossil fuels (especially coal) to address societal concerns: climate change and environmental degradation, energy security, and price volatility. Solar thermal power, a compelling source of renewable electricity, represents a possible solution to excessive fossil fuel use. However, electricity from solar thermal power currently costs too much to be directly competitive with fossil fuels. Furthermore, although solar thermal plants have the capability of storing heat in order to produce power after sundown, this represents a significant capital cost to plant developers. In order to achieve large scale deployment and to compete with fossil fuels, there is a crucial need across the solar thermal industry to lower costs and develop viable thermal storage. At the heart of these plants is the heat transfer fluid and thermal storage material. The market for this crucial component is projected to reach $5.5 billion by 2020. The commercialization of the proposed innovation would both reduce the cost of solar thermal power and enable economic thermal storage, bringing the nation significantly closer to eliminating the use of coal.