Corrosion and purification in chloride molten salt for thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power plants

Increasing attention has recently been paid to the utilization of molten chlorides in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants serving for high temperature heat storage and heat transfer materials, owing to their higher thermal stability limits and lower cost comparing with nitrate salt mixtures, which are currently used as commercial heat storage and Transfer materials in CSP. A higher operating temperature of heat storage and transfer materials will result in higher transformation efficiency from thermal to electrical energy in the CSP. While additional challenges can be encountered, in particular elevated corrosiveness of metallic alloys serving as containers and construction materials could occur. Therefore, the corrosion behavior and method to inhibit the corrosion of metal alloys in molten chlorides in the range of operating temperature should be studied to enable the real utilization of molten chlorides in CSP for power generation