Determining the Viscosity of Molten Salts

Salts consist of ionic compounds, i.e. of positively loaded cations and negatively loaded anions. They form crystalline structures that are usually solid at room temperature. The melting points are usually above 100 °C. Molten salt may absorb a high amount of energy and is not flammable at high temperatures even above 500 °C. Therefore it is excellently suitable as energy storage for solar plants. With this application the salt is molten by solar energy and pumped into appropriate storage tanks. On demand it can be pumped out from there and used as energy source to drive steam turbines. In order to design the pumps it is necessary to know the flow behavior of the molten salt. This is described by the viscosity. This report shows how the viscosity of molten salts can be determined using a rotational rheometer from Anton Paar.

Introduction

Salts consist of ionic compounds, i.e. of positively loaded cations and negatively loaded anions. They form crystalline structures that are usually solid at room temperature. The melting points are usually above 100 °C. Molten salt may absorb a high amount of energy and is not flammable at high temperatures even above 500 °C. Therefore it is excellently suitable as energy storage for solar plants. With this application the salt is molten by solar energy and pumped into appropriate storage tanks. On demand it can be pumped out from there and used as energy source to drive steam turbines. In order to design the pumps it is necessary to know the flow behavior of the molten salt. This is described by the viscosity.

This report shows how the viscosity of molten salts can be determined using a rotational rheometer.

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