Investigation of thermal properties of boron added molten salts for concentrating solar power (CSP) applications

The increase in energy demands and depletion of fossil fuel for power generation are the major concern nowadays. Utilization of renewable energy sources can be regarded as one of the options to tackle these issues. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable sources to produce electricity and heat. Many solar based thermal systems are used for generating electricity, water desalination, buildings air-conditioning, and water heating from solar radiation. Enhancing heat transfer process in solar energy systems is one of the most important issues to achieve a better performance of these systems with compact designs. This aim may be achieved by designing and producing working fluids with enhanced thermo-physical properties. In this thesis, amorphous B2O3, glassy B2O3 and hexagonal boron nitride were used as additives to improve the thermal properties of solar salt, one of the most commonly used fluids in CSP systems. Solar salt was used as a reference and melting point, mass loss and heat capacity analyzes were made by adding 0,5%, 1% and 2% additives separately. The most promising values were achieved with the sample containing %2 hexagonal boron nitride.