Thermodynamic Properties of ZrCl₄ with LiCl, NaCl, KCl, CsCl, MgCl₂, and UCl₃ for molten salt reactor applications

Author(s)

Jack A. Wilson, University of South CarolinaFollow
Mina Aziziha, University of South CarolinaFollow
Juliano Schorne-Pinto
Aiswarya Padinhare Manissery, University of South CarolinaFollow
Jorge Paz Soldan Palma, University of South CarolinaFollow
Clara M. Dixon, University of South CarolinaFollow
Ronald E. Booth, University of South CarolinaFollow
Hunter B. Tisdale, University of South CarolinaFollow
Yunping Zhoujin
Dmitry S. Maltsev
Sheng Dai
Phillip W. Halstenberg
Silu Huang, University of South CarolinaFollow
Rongying Jin, University of South CarolinaFollow
Hans Conrad zur Loye, University of South CarolinaFollow
Theodore M. Besmann, University of South CarolinaFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

A set of self-consistent Gibbs energy functions has been developed to describe the thermochemical behavior of the major reactive fission product ZrCl4 with key components in chloride molten salt reactors (MSRs): LiCl–ZrCl4, NaCl–ZrCl4, KCl–ZrCl4, CsCl–ZrCl4, MgCl2–ZrCl4 and UCl3–ZrCl4. Low ZrCl4 concentration phase equilibria most relevant to MSR applications have been confirmed via differential scanning calorimetry for NaCl–ZrCl4, and X-ray diffraction analysis performed on equilibrated samples of NaCl–ZrCl4, KCl–ZrCl4, MgCl2–ZrCl4, and UCl3–ZrCl4. Within the framework of the modified quasi-chemical model in the quadruplet approximation, extrapolations of pseudo-binary models were generated to represent KCl–MgCl2–ZrCl4, KCl–NaCl–ZrCl4, and MgCl2–NaCl–ZrCl4, which show agreement with phase equilibria data where available without the use of ternary interaction parameters. The optimized thermodynamic descriptions for these systems and others are available in the open-source compendium Molten Salt Thermal Properties Database – Thermochemical (MSTDB–TC).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2025.128578

Publication Info

Published in Journal of Molecular Liquids, Volume 437, Issue Part C, 2025.

Rights

© 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

APA Citation

Wilson, J. A., Aziziha, M., Juliano Schorne-Pinto, Aiswarya Padinhare Manissery, Paz, J., Dixon, C. M., Booth, R. E., Tisdale, H. B., Yunping Zhoujin, Maltsev, D. S., Dai, S., Halstenberg, P. W., Huang, S., Jin, R., Loye, H.-C. zur, & Besmann, T. M. (2025). Thermodynamic properties of ZrCl4 with LiCl, NaCl, KCl, CsCl, MgCl2, and UCl3 for molten salt reactor applications. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 437(Part C), 128578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2025.128578