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

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目建议开发一种新型熔盐传热和储热材料，用于中央接收器太阳能热发电。太阳能热技术开发人员正在努力提高其系统的工作温度，从而降低电力的平均成本，减少能源储存的成本。已知的用于传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，我们将进行高通量材料发现计划，以快速筛选超过2000种独特的无机盐混合物，并发现一种低熔点为200°C，最高温度为700°C的新型共晶混合物。这种广泛的操作范围是目前市场上任何商业上可行的材料都无法获得的。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组分的数量呈指数增长。我们将把最初用于制药应用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，我们将结合高通量发现工具的力量（用于快速材料合成和表征）与实验设计的优化方法（有效地限制设计空间）。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力解决了能源方面的紧迫问题。目标是廉价的太阳能，不分昼夜。我们必须减少化石燃料（尤其是煤炭）的使用，以解决气候变化和环境恶化、能源安全和价格波动等社会问题。太阳能热发电是一种引人注目的可再生电力来源，代表了过度使用化石燃料的可能解决方案。然而，目前太阳能热发电成本太高，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，但这对电厂开发商来说意味着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，整个太阳能热产业迫切需要降低成本并开发可行的储热系统。这些工厂的核心是传热流体和储热材料。到2020年，这一关键部件的市场预计将达到55亿美元。这项拟议中的创新技术的商业化将降低太阳能热发电的成本，并使经济的热储存成为可能，使美国更接近于消除煤炭的使用。

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.