Binary Ice Storage System Additives

China has already become the second major energy-consuming country in the world. But the diggable energy per person is lower to the world average. With the rapid development of economy, there are some new changes in power demand. Under this background, ice storage technology is now being phased in within some area.Ice storage system is classified into two types, static and dynamic type, by method of forming ice. This paper will mainly study ice slurry technology. The ice slurry has good fluidity, therefore a large amount of cold energy can be transported with less pumping work. The system of ice slurry can quickly change heat transfer load because the ice particles have a large surface area. But adhesion of ice depresses heat transfer rate and fluidity. This means that suitable additives must be added to aqueous solution.Based on the structure of water molecules, the mechanism of ice crystal growth and the adherence of surfactants were studied. Glycol can prevent agglomeration of ice crystal because of its hydroxyl (-OH). But it doesn't work in low concentration. Surfactants also have this function even in very low concentration. But its special characteristic takes refrigerant into aqueous solution and produces stable emulsions. This would do great harm to heat exchanger. Glycol + surfactants can inhibit ice growth and agglomeration very effectively. After a series of experiments, 1%o Tween-80 + 3% Glycol mixture was used to system experiment. It works fantastical. Ice slurry flows smoothly in pipes without agglomeration and clogging.