SBIR Phase II: Advanced Molten Salt for Solar Thermal Power Generation with Supercritical Steam Turbines

SBIR 第二阶段：用于超临界汽轮机太阳能热发电的先进熔盐

• 批准号: 1230442
• 负责人: Justin Raade
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Halotechnics, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1230442&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Advanced; Molten

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop a novel molten salt for solar thermal power generation with supercritical steam turbines. Solar thermal technology developers must increase the operating temperature of their plants to lower their levelized cost of electricity and reduce the cost of thermal storage. Building upon a successful Phase I program, the project team has developed a prototype salt mixture that could enable this trend. It is low cost, exhibits a melting point below 240 deg. C, and has a high maximum temperature of 700 deg. C, a broad operating range currently unavailable elsewhere. The project will conduct a high throughput R&D program to rapidly screen up to thousands of unique mixtures of inorganic salts to optimize the physical properties of the prototype fluid. The project will apply combinatorial chemistry techniques, originally developed for pharmaceutical applications, to this new field. After screening many candidates, the project will evaluate the materials compatibility of a few promising mixtures with common steel and nickel-based alloys. Corrosion mitigation techniques will be developed and evaluated. The project will conduct flow testing in a lab-scale test loop capable of 700 deg. C operation.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the enabling of low-cost electricity from the sun. It is imperative that society reduce its usage of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) to address pressing concerns - climate change and environmental degradation, energy security, and price volatility. Solar thermal power, a compelling source of renewable electricity at large scale, is the most promising solution to reduce fossil fuel use. However, electricity from solar thermal power currently costs too much to be directly competitive with fossil fuels. Furthermore, solar thermal plants need a cheap way to store heat in order to produce power after sundown or when utilities demand it. This project focuses on the material at the heart of these plants - the heat transfer fluid - and thermal storage system. The market for thermal storage is projected to reach $3.7 billion by 2015. Thermal storage is growing increasingly valuable as utilities realize the need for solar power that can deliver smooth, reliable output regardless of weather conditions. The development of the proposed innovation would both reduce the cost of solar thermal power and enable economical thermal storage, bringing the nation significantly closer to eliminating the use of coal.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）II期项目提议为使用超临界蒸汽轮机开发一种新型的熔融盐，以用于太阳能热发电。太阳能热技术开发商必须提高植物的工作温度，以降低电位的电力成本并降低热量存储成本。在成功的第一阶段计划的基础上，项目团队开发了一种原型盐混合物，可以实现这一趋势。这是低成本，在240度以下显示熔点。 C，高最高温度为700度。 C，目前在其他地方无法使用的广泛操作范围。该项目将进行高吞吐量的研发计划，以迅速筛选多达数千种无机盐的独特混合物，以优化原型流体的物理特性。该项目将采用最初为药品应用开发的组合化学技术，适用于这个新领域。 在筛选了许多候选人之后，该项目将评估一些有希望的混合物与普通钢和镍基合金的材料兼容性。将开发和评估缓解腐蚀技术。该项目将在实验室规模的测试环中进行流动测试，该循环能够为700度。 C操作。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是使太阳低成本的电力启用。社会必须减少对化石燃料（石油，天然气，煤炭）的使用来解决紧迫的担忧 - 气候变化和环境退化，能源安全和价格波动。 太阳能热力是大规模可再生电力的引人注目的来源，是减少化石燃料使用的最有前途的解决方案。但是，太阳能热力的电力目前的成本太高，无法与化石燃料直接竞争。此外，太阳能热植物需要一种廉价的方式来存储热量，以便在日落之后或公用事业需要时产生电源。该项目着重于这些植物核心的材料 - 传热液 - 和热储存系统。预计到2015年，热存储的市场预计将达到37亿美元。随着公用事业意识到对太阳能的需求，无论天气状况如何，热存储都越来越有价值。拟议的创新的发展既可以降低太阳能热力的成本，又可以使经济的热量储存，从而使国家更加接近消除煤炭的使用。