The Behavior of Nine Solar-Pond Candidate Salts
Purchasing and transporting salt are two of the most expensive items in the construction of salt-gradient solar ponds. The economics of solar ponds could be improved by using alternative salts that can be obtained free or at low cost. One such salt is sodium sulfate, which is expected to be widely available as a flue-gas desulfurization waste product. In this study, several highly soluble salts were tested for their suitability as solar pond materials in a laboratory salinity gradient pond. The salts tested were sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, potassium nitrate, and ammonium nitrate. Each of these salts has the potential to become a cheap, widely available resource. The behavior of the laboratory pond was monitored during testing of each alternative salt. Each salt's performance was compared with the performance of sodium chloride, the most commonly used salt in ponds. Predictions of stability were made and compared with experimentally derived stability as determined by the growth of convective layers. The investigators observed good agreement between experimental and theoretical ranking of the stability of each salt. However, it was apparent that more extensive Information on the properties of candidate salt solutions was needed.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 6823318
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TR-253-1512; MainId:67558; UUID:dda6f54c-bed1-e411-b769-d89d67132a6d; MainAdminId:49629
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM NITRATES
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATES
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA
DENSITY
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM CHLORIDES
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
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PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
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POTASSIUM CHLORIDES
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
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SODIUM CHLORIDES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM SULFATES
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ammonium nitrates
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calcium chlorides
magnesium chlorides
potassium chlorides
potassium nitrates
salinity gradients
sodium carbonates
sodium chlorides
sodium sulfates
solar ponds