Experimental study of a KNO/sub 3/ salt-gradient solar pond

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6927176

Salamah, A I

The collection and storage of solar energy in a body of water is possible by preventing convection with a stabilizing salinity gradient. An outdoor salt gradient solar pond using KNO/sub 3/ was designed, constructed, and studied at the University of New Mexico. This experimental pond was formed using a steel cylindrical shell eight feet in diameter and 13 feet long embedded in the earth with its axis of symmetry vertical. The interior of the shell was sprayed with a one foot layer of polyurethane foam (R50) on the walls and bottom. The lower six feet of the cavity was filled with dry sand. The active KNO/sub 3/ solution occupied the upper 6 feet of the cavity, contained by a butyl rubber liner. A salt gradient was established in the fall of 1981 and the behavior of the pond was monitored for a period of nine months. The lower storage layer of this pond reached a high temperature of 82/sup 0/C in late July 1982. There is a possibility to increase the temperature of the potassium nitrate solution over 100/sup 0/C and to increase the concentration of the solution up to 77%. Apart from economic considerations, which were not included in this study, this prototype pond suggests that KNO/sub 3/ ponds show considerable promise for the collection and storage of solar energy. The application of KNO/sub 3/ solar pond for the supply of the industrial process heat may be economically and technically feasible. The solar pond which may have some potential, used a system for solar collection and seasonal storage, needs more research before prototypes are constructed.

• OSTI ID: 6927176
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
142000 -- Solar Energy-- Heat Storage-- (1980-)
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ENERGY STORAGE
EQUIPMENT
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PONDS
POTASSIUM COMPOUNDS
POTASSIUM NITRATES
SALINITY GRADIENTS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR PONDS
STORAGE
SURFACE WATERS