Effect of sand and moisture on molten salt properties for open direct absorption solar receiver/storage system

Solar Salt (60 wt. % sodium nitrate, 40 wt. % potassium nitrate) is one candidate salt mixture for the CSPonD Demo project (Concentrated Solar Power On Demand Demonstration), ongoing collaboration between Masdar Institute and MIT. One prototype is under preparation at the Masdar Institute Solar Platform in Abu Dhabi. In this new concept, the salt will be used as an open direct absorption solar receiver integrated with a storage system so that the effects of dust/sand and moisture on the thermophysical properties have to be investigated. Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to study the thermal stability and mass loss, while a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) was used to study the thermal properties and heat capacity of the salt mixture with and without sand. Considering the worst case scenario, the maximum mass loss rate at 550 °C, and in a fully open configuration, was measured to be 0.29 % per hour, around 2.34 per day of use (8 h of operation). The effect of sand was the same under nitrogen gas environment and air with moisture, which resulted in decreasing the melting temperature of the salts mixture and increasing its freezing temperature. The thermal properties remained stable even after 3 temperature cycles with impurities. Finally, the salt heat capacity increased due to the addition of 2 wt. % of sand.