Raiselife: Raising the Lifetime of Functional Materials for Concentrated Solar Power Technology

RAISELIFE is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme coordinated by Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt at Cologne, Germany.

RAISELIFE addresses the challenges of materials for CSP technology focusing on the 2020 targets stated in the Materials Roadmap (SEC(2011)1609). For this purpose the project brings together a broad consortium formed of leading industry partners, SMEs, and research institutes in the concentrated solar thermal and materials science sector. The project scope has been significantly shaped by the leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of ST technology BSII. This unique constellation permits a direct transfer of the results obtained in RAISELIFE to new commercial CSP plants within less than 5 years.

This project focuses on raising the lifetime of five key functional materials for concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies: 1) protective and anti-soiling coatings for primary reflectors, 2) very high-reflective surfaces for heliostats, 3) high-temperature secondary reflectors, 4) receiver coatings, and 5) corrosion-resistant high-temperature metals and coatings for molten salts.

At DFI new coatings for different applications will be developed. On the one hand new high absorptivity diffusion coatings based on manganese and chromium will be applied on different steels and nickel-based alloys as material for receivers. The formed black oxide scales must exhibit high absorptivity, low emissivity, and good resistance against corrosion and thermal shock. The coated materials will be tested in different laboratories of the project partners for high temperature and water-based corrosion. On the other hand the solar energy has to be transferred to a medium such as steam of molten salts. Therefore diffusion coatings for the inside of the absorber tubes on the base of chromium and nickel will be applied on the same materials. The coatings will be investigated in static and dynamic molten salt conditions at different temperatures and impurity levels in order to understand the corrosion and failure mechanisms precisely.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 686008