Big Time Thermal Storage - Nanocoated Salt

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,771
Northern NH

Pretty interesting stuff. 500 C (932 F) is a bit warm for homeowners but a nice fit for some industries.
 

Pretty interesting stuff. 500 C (932 F) is a bit warm for homeowners but a nice fit for some industries.
That temp and higher is in the firebox of most wood stoves, furnaces and boilers. The question is how much storage volume is needed?
 
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It would be nice to store it under a basement floor and also run lines for baseboards through it!
 
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It would be nice to store it under a basement floor and also run lines for baseboards through it!
Or maybe in a slab? Perhaps this could offset some of the embodied energy associated with concrete construction.
 
From their web site:
How it works
SaltX is storing energy chemically with salt. Through separating salt and water molecules from each other you charge the “thermal battery”.

  1. When the nano-coated salt is uncharged it is a mixture of salt and water.
  2. When charging the salt you heat it up to 500 degrees Celsius. The water evaporates from the water and the dry salt is now charged.
  3. As long as the salt is dry you can keep the salt charged. The salt can be stored at normal room temperatures.
  4. When discharging the energy you add steam or water to the salt and a chemical reaction releases 500 degrees Celsius.
 
From their web site:
How it works
SaltX is storing energy chemically with salt. Through separating salt and water molecules from each other you charge the “thermal battery”.

  1. When the nano-coated salt is uncharged it is a mixture of salt and water.
  2. When charging the salt you heat it up to 500 degrees Celsius. The water evaporates from the water and the dry salt is now charged.
  3. As long as the salt is dry you can keep the salt charged. The salt can be stored at normal room temperatures.
  4. When discharging the energy you add steam or water to the salt and a chemical reaction releases 500 degrees Celsius.
Wondering how this process compares to phase-change salts used for solar heat storage and whether this would improve efficiencies for these systems and/or reduce costs?
 
Maybe not a salt, but just sodium? Sodium has an exothermic reaction when it meats water.
Sodium salts like sodium nitrate are used in some large solar heat storage projects. They melt at around 268F and can be kept in liquid state in "cold" storage tanks at around 550F. Solar energy is used to double that temp.