Overview of Molten Salt Electric Heater

As the name implies, a molten salt electric heater is a heater that uses molten salt as a heating medium, which is different from a heater that uses gas or liquid as a medium. So, what is molten salt?

Molten salt is a liquid substance formed after salts are melted. For example, molten bodies such as halides, nitrates, and sulfates of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals. It is a molten mixture composed of metal cations and non-metallic anions. There are more than 80 cations and more than 30 anions that can form molten salts, so more than 2,400 molten salts can be combined. Considering that metal cations may have many different valence states and anions can also form different complex anions, the actual number of molten salts will exceed 2,400. At standard temperature and atmospheric pressure, molten salts are usually solid, but exist in liquid phase at higher temperatures. Traditionally, molten inorganic salts are called molten salts, but nowadays they also include oxide melts and molten organic matter. According to the composition, molten salts can be divided into binary salts, ternary salts, and polybasic salts.

What are the practical uses of heating molten salts? The earliest documented records of molten salts can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty in China. In the book Compendium of Materia Medica, Li Shizhen described the phenomenon that saltpeter (potassium nitrate) melts into liquid when heated. In the early 19th century, the British chemist Davy used molten salt electrolysis to produce metals. Using Davy's molten salt electrolysis, a variety of chemically active metals such as aluminum, magnesium, rare earth metals, sodium, lithium, calcium, thorium, uranium, tantalum, etc. can be extracted. Since the end of the 19th century, large-scale industrial production has adopted molten cryolite-alumina electrolysis to smelt aluminum, and chloride molten salt system electrolysis containing magnesium chloride to smelt magnesium. Similarly, molten salt electrolysis (electrodeposition) using soluble anodes can refine metals such as aluminum and titanium.

In the metallurgical industry, molten salt is also used as slag for alloy electroslag refining, flux for light alloy smelting and welding, and medium for alloy heat treatment salt bath furnace. The development of nuclear energy and nuclear fuel metallurgy has opened up new application areas for molten salt. For example, molten salt electrolytes or reaction media can be used in the preparation and post-processing of nuclear fuel. The molten salt reactor using lithium fluoride-beryllium fluoride-thorium fluoride molten salt system as nuclear fuel is considered to be a new energy source using thorium as nuclear fuel. Molten salt is used as a heat carrier in chemical and metallurgical production, and is expected to be used in the nuclear industry. Fuel cells and batteries using molten salt as electrolyte are considered to be promising chemical power sources. Since molten salt is a commonly used material in the metallurgical industry, the physical and chemical research of molten salt has become an important branch of the physical and chemical process of metallurgical processes.

Since heating molten salt has a wide range of applications, molten salt electric heaters have come into being. Molten salt electric heaters are generally divided into two categories: preheating the solid salt in the container to make it phase change to liquid; using a molten salt pump to transport the low-temperature liquid salt to the molten salt heating tank, and the electric heater further heats it to the temperature required by the working conditions. The molten salt electric heater is equipped with a precise electronic control system, which can provide users with a safe, pollution-free and efficient heating method.
Main technical parameters
• Power supply: three-phase AC380V-6600V
• Power: 10KW-20000KW
• Working temperature: 200℃-600℃
• Design pressure: 1.0MPa-10.0MPa
• Supply status: heating core, pipe heater, circulating electric heating skid

Precautions for use
Keep clean: The molten salt should be kept clean and should not come into contact with organic matter such as carbon, rosin or reducing substances to avoid causing violent chemical reactions. Temperature control: When heating up, strictly control the heating rate to avoid rapid cooling and heating during system operation. Constant flow rate: Maintain a stable flow rate during cyclic heating to avoid exceeding the membrane temperature. Prevent pollution: During high-temperature operation, it is strictly forbidden to mix water and organic matter into the system. High temperature stability: When the temperature exceeds 550℃, the molten salt may become unstable, react and release gas, resulting in an increase in the melting point and deterioration of the molten salt.