Techno-economic analysis of phase change material slurry for industrial applications.

Abstract

In this project, Phase Change Slurries (PCS) based on salt hydrates are investigated from a techno-economic perspective for their suitability to act as heat transfer fluids and storage media in industrial applications. The PSC should be able to deliver high and flexible thermal power output while guaranteeing higher storage energy densities and therefore smaller component size in comparison to sensible storage materials. In this work a techno-economic analysis of PCS for industrial applications is performed. A case study based on a realistic industrial process is used to compare the PCS performance to that of sensible materials in terms of component size and installation cost. The developed tool can be used to identify industrial cases where PCS will have the highest potential in comparison to sensible heat transfer fluids and storage materials.