Thermal and Electric Energy and Desalination with a Salt Gradient Solar Pond

摘要

A 3355 m exp 2 (0.83 acre) storage pond in El Paso, Texas is being converted to a salt gradient solar pond. The existing pond (constructed in 1976) has a Hypalon rubber lining and is approximately 3 m (10 ft.) deep. Approximately 1.8 x 10 exp 6 kg (2070 tons) of salt has been obtained for only the cost of shipping from the source located 322 km (200 miles) from the El Paso pond. The lower storage zone in the pond will be 1.5 m (5 ft.) in thickness while the the nonconvecting gradient zone will be 1.2 m (4 ft.) thick and the upper convecting zone will be 0.3 m (1.0 ft.) thick. During the period of this report, the following tasks have been completed: transport and management of the salt, pond clean-up and liner inspection, preparation of a work plan and schedule, selection of the methods for disolution and separation of insolubles based on laboratory tests, development of an economic computer program, and parametric studies with the SOLPOND simulation program. (ERA citation 09:005884)