Screening of phase change materials for process heat applications in the temperature range 120 to 250°C

Abstract

The utilization of solar generated steam in combination with a suitable storage technology could reduce the fossil fuel dependency significantly. Selection of basic storage concepts strongly depends on the working fluid. In systems using steam as a fluid, most of the heat is transferred at nearly constant temperature by evaporation and condensation. As a result, latent heat storage systems using phase change materials (PCMs) are suitable, since this storage concept can also operate at nearly constant temperature. The presented work covers material aspects and gives a comprehensive overview of potential organic and inorganic PCMs in the temperature range 120 to 250°C. Measurements of phase diagrams and latent heats of binary alkali nitrate/nitrite systems, previously not published are reported.