Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Research in Advanced Fluid and Process, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. kousik@umpsa.edu.my
  • 2 Faculty of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, 26600, Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
  • 3 Centre for Research in Advanced Fluid and Process, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, Gambang, 26300, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
  • 4 Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, Puducherry, 609609, India
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2024 Aug;31(38):50166-50178.
PMID: 38625473 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33151-x

Abstract

Molten salts are the operational fluid for most concentrated solar power (CSP) systems, which has attracted more attention among the scientific community due to the augmentation of their properties with the doping of nanoparticles. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanoparticles were dispersed in HITEC molten salt to create a novel nanofluid and evaluate the h-BN nanoparticles' influence on HITEC thermophysical properties. The influence of nanoparticle concentration (0.1, 0.5, and 1wt.%) of h-BN and HITEC was studied in this research. HITEC and nano-enhanced HITEC molten salt (NEHMS) were characterized using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Specific heat capacity, latent heat, and melting temperature were assessed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The maximum working temperature was evaluated with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The ideal nanoparticle concentration is 0.1 wt.% h-BN, which results in a 27% increase in heat capacity, a 72% increase in latent heat, and a 7% enhancement in thermal stability. The thermal cycling stability test proved the stability of the enhanced thermophysical properties. The material characterization revealed that the samples with improved thermophysical properties have a homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles with minor nanoparticle agglomeration. The system advisor model (SAM) simulation comparison of the optimum sample with solar salt and HITEC salt revealed that using the optimum sample increases CSP plant efficiency by 0.4% and reduces power costs by 0.13¢/kWh.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.