Thermal Analysis of the Solar Collector Cum Storage System Using a Hybrid-Nanofluids

The main problem in the solar energy field is the storage of thermal energy. To divert this problem, it was suggested to use a flat-plat solar collector which also serves as a storage system; this solution will reduce the size of a refrigerating machine that we are studying. A high stored energy density is only possible if we through use latent heat of phase change. Thermal analysis has been developed for this type of storage collector for near-steady state conditions using a nanofluid heat storage substance depended on KNO3–NaNO3 binary salt mixture as PCM and a mix of Al2O3–SiO2 as nanoparticle, from which the new Hottel-Whillier-Bliss equations have been used for efficient flat plate collector. Computations were achieved for a large variety of parameters to verify the significance of the created model.

Effect of Vacuum Annealing on Microstructure and Hot-Salt Corrosion Behavior of CoNiCrAlY/YSZ/LaMgAl11O19 Double-Ceramic Coating

This study investigated the potential effect of vacuum annealing on the microstructure and hot salt corrosion behavior of CoNiCrAlY/YSZ/LaMgAl11O19 (LMA) double-ceramic coatings. A hot-salt corrosion test revealed that sprayed coatings exhibited an unsatisfactory anti-corrosion performance, and the LMA layer underwent severe fracture and corrosion degradation. Vacuum annealing induced a prominent recrystallization of the amorphous phase in LMA layer, triggering severe volume shrinkage and microcrack initiation. The recrystallization and volume shrinkage of the LMA layer were aggravated by an increase in the annealing temperature. The annealed coating with a higher fraction of the LaMA phase showed superior resistance to hot-salt corrosion. However, the salt mixture diffused simultaneously along the microcracks and eventually eroded into the YSZ layer. These results confirmed that vacuum annealing significantly enhanced the hot-salt corrosion resistance of the LMA layer. However, it deteriorated the barrier effect of the salt mixture through microcrack formation.

Uranium Decontamination from Waste Soils by Chlorination with ZrCl4 in LiCl-KCl Eutectic Salt

The dissolution behavior of U, contained in the soils, was examined through chlorination with ZrCl4 to reduce the U concentration to clearance levels. Natural soils, composed of Si, Al, and approximately 2 ppm U, acted as surrogates for the contaminated soils. A salt mixture of LiCl-KCl-ZrCl4 was prepared in an Al2O3 crucible at 500°C, and SiO2 or natural soils were loaded for the chemical reactions. The reaction of SiO2 and Al2O3 with ZrCl4 was monitored by cyclic voltammetry, and no obvious change was observed. The results showed that SiO2 and Al2O3 were stable against ZrCl4. The reaction of natural soils with ZrCl4 indicated that the U content decreased from 2 to 1.2 ppm, while ∼0.4 ppm U appeared in the salt. Thus, the U, in the soils, dissolved into the salt by chlorination with ZrCl4. Therefore, based on these results, a new method to remediate U-contaminated soil wastes by chlorination with ZrCl4, followed by electrorefining of U, is suggested.