Effects of fluoride salt addition to the physico-chemical properties of the MgCl2-NaCl-KCl heat transfer fluid : a molecular dynamics study

Concentrated solar plants are promising solutions for electricity production. In these plants, the heat transfer fluid plays an important role, and finding systems with good thermal properties is very important. In this regard, molten salts, and more particularly molten chlorides, are currently investigated. Experimental studies of these melts are difficult and expensive, so complementing them with simulations would allow to test a wider range of compositions. In this work, we show that classical molecular dynamics simulations are suitable for predicting the properties of a ternary salt composed of MgCl2, KCl and NaCl by extensive comparisons with experimental data (and previous simulations) on the density, heat capacity, viscosity and thermal conductivity. We then study the effect of adding fluoride ions in the melt on these properties in order to investigate the suitability of mixed chlorides-fluorides for future heat transfer fluids studies.