One increasingly viable option for high temperature concentrator solar power (CSP) is a central receiver system with a particle heating receiver (PHR). A PHR system uses suitable particulates to capture and store energy. It is expected that the particles will be sustained at high temperatures (in the range of 300°C or 400°C to 700°C or 800°C or even 1000°C) on most typical days of plant operation, so there is interest in how the particle optical properties might change after prolonged high-temperature exposure.
This paper presents the results from experiments conducted over a 5-month period in which samples of various types of particulates including silica sands and alumina proppants were exposed to high temperatures for extended periods of time. The reflectance of a bed of particles was measured at room temperature in 8 wavelength bands using the 410-Solar reflectometer device developed by Surface Optics Corporation. The infrared emittance was determined using the ETS-100 emissometer instrument, also developed by Surface Optics Corporation [1,2].
Particles were heated to 950°C and 350°C, and measurements were recorded at intervals during the exposure so that trends in the optical properties over time could be observed. From the measured data, the total solar absorptance and total hemispherical emittance at high temperature were computed; these results are also presented.
