ENHANCED EFFECTIVENESS AND THERMAL PERFORMANCE FACTOR OF NICKEL NANOFLUID FLOW IN A PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER

The effectiveness, number of transfer units, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of water-based nickel nanofluids flow in a plate heat exchanger were discussed. Additionally, thermophysical properties, heat transfer, and friction factor were also estimated. Experiments on prepared water-based nickel nanofluids were performed at various Reynolds number (300 to 1000) and particle volume concentrations (0.1%-0.6%). At a temperature of 60 degrees C and at 0.6% volume concentration of nanofluid, the thermal conductivity and viscosity was increased by 33.92% and 67.45%, respectively, opposite to base fluid. At 0.6% volume concentration with a Reynolds number of 707; the effectiveness, number of transfer units, and thermal performance factor were enhanced by 21.33%, 38.6%, and 19.8% while the convective heat transfer coefficient was enhanced by 57.35% over water alone. Under 0.6% vol. of nanofluid, the maximum total embodied energy was decreased to 556.13 MJ, whereas for water, it was 675 MJ. The cost of plate heat exchange dropped by 17.39% at 0.6% vol. of nanofluid. The environmental CO2 emission released by the stainless steel material used in the plate heat exchanger was lowered to 21.87 kg of CO2 at 0.6% vol. of nanofluid, compared to 26.55 kg of CO2 for base fluid.