Oil-to-salt heat exchangers

Value-adding engineering design

The Header-Coil type oil-to-salt heat exchanger system is based on the exceptional operational experience from the thermal oil and molten salt steam systems. The oil-to-salt heat exchangers are 100% welded header-coil type designed according to ASME and EN standards. They are, likewise, based on a proven technology using thermal oil inside the tube and molten salt on the shell side. This contributes to many operational benefits compared to the TEMA standard u-tube-type heat exchangers and therefore have the potential to reduce LCOE by up to 5-10%.

Higher ΔT and steam temperatures

The header-coil technology makes it possible to increase the salt temperature of the hot salt tank, while simultaneously reducing the salt temperature of the cold tank. By doing so you achieve a high ΔT between the hot and the cold tanks, as the heat exchanger is not limited by the vertical thermal stresses that occurs in the tube sheet.  Likewise, it is possible to design the heat exchanger with a lower approach point (below 2˚C) in the thermal energy storage operating mode. The steam cycle optimization can enable a >10% reduction of the required salt volume thereby achieving a significant CAPEX reduction.