scholarly journals Environmental and Economic Impact of the Antifreeze Agents in Geothermal Heat Exchangers

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5653
Author(s):  
Nicola Bartolini ◽  
Alessandro Casasso ◽  
Carlo Bianco ◽  
Rajandrea Sethi

 Borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) generally employ water-antifreeze solutions to allow working fluid temperatures to fall below 0 °C. However, some local regulations have forbidden antifreeze additives (even non-toxic ones) to avoid groundwater pollution in case of pipe leakage. This paper presents a techno-economic and environmental analysis of four different fluids: propylene glycol at 25% and 33% weight concentrations, calcium chloride at 20% weight concentration (CaCl2 20%), and pure water. Thermal loads from 36 case studies in six different climate zones are used to perform BHE sizing and compare the abovementioned fluids from the economic, operational, and environmental points of view. The economic analysis and the carbon footprint assessment are performed on a life cycle of 25 years considering the installation (BHE drilling, fluid) and operation (heat pump and ground-side circulation pump energy demand, fluid replacement) of the simulated GSHPs. Results highlight that using pure water as a heat carrier fluid is convenient for cooling-dominated buildings but, for heating-dominated buildings, this choice leads to a noticeable increase of the BHE needed length which is not compensated by the lower operational costs. On the other hand, avoiding the use of antifreeze additives generally leads to a reduction of the lifetime carbon footprint, with a few exceptions in very cold climates. CaCl2 20% proves to be a good choice in most cases, both from the economic and the environmental points of view, as it allows a strong reduction of the installed BHE length in cold climates with a low additional cost and carbon footprint.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2892
Author(s):  
Hossein Javadi ◽  
Javier F. Urchueguia ◽  
Seyed Soheil Mousavi Ajarostaghi ◽  
Borja Badenes

In this numerical study, 4 types of hybrid nanofluid, including Ag-MgO/water, TiO2-Cu/water, Al2O3-CuO/water, and Fe3O4-multi-wall carbon nanotube/water, have been considered potential working fluid in a single U-tube borehole heat exchanger. The selected hybrid nanofluid is then analyzed by changing the volume fraction and the Reynolds number. Based on the numerical results, Ag-MgO/water hybrid nanofluid is chosen as the most favorable heat carrier fluid, among others, considering its superior effectiveness, minor pressure drop, and appropriate thermal resistance compared to the pure water. Moreover, it was indicated that all cases of Ag-MgO/water hybrid nanofluid at various volume fractions (from 0.05 to 0.20) and Reynolds numbers (from 3200 to 6200) could achieve better effectiveness and lower thermal resistances, but higher pressure drops compared to the corresponding cases of pure water. Nevertheless, all the evaluated hybrid nanofluids present lower coefficient of performance (COP)-improvement than unity which means that applying them as working fluid is not economically viable because of having higher pressure drop than the heat transfer enhancement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Sinan Ünvar ◽  
Tayfun Menlik ◽  
Adnan Sözen ◽  
Hafız Muhammad Ali

Heat pipe solar collectors (HPSCs) are heat exchangers that carry heat based on the phase change of the heat pipe working fluid. It is aimed to increase the operating temperature range of solar collectors by changing the phase of the working fluid in the heat pipe at low temperature. For this reason, it has become widespread to use nanofluids obtained by mixing nanosized metal oxides with the base fluid in certain proportions in order to increase both the thermal conductivity of the heat pipe working fluids and to increase the specific heat closures. The main purpose of this study, which was conducted to evaluate the performance of HPSCs, is to increase performance, and an experimental study has been conducted in this direction. For this purpose, an HPSC designed and manufactured was used. Al2O3-water and TiO2-water nanofluids containing 2% nanoparticles were used in order to increase performance in the study. HPSC used in the study consists of 8 heat pipes with a length of 100 cm. The experiments were carried out for pure water and nanofluids, and their efficiency and strength were compared. The highest value of instantaneous efficiency was calculated as 48% when pure water was used as the working fluid, 58% for Al2O3-water nanofluid, and 64% for TiO2-water nanofluid. The instantaneous power obtained using pure water was determined as 135.66 W, 167.96 W for Al2O3-water nanofluid, and 184.03 W for TiO2-water nanofluid. The improvement in efficiency was determined as 20.8% for Al2O3-water nanofluid and 33.3% for TiO2-water nanofluid. Improvement in powers was found to be 23.8% for Al2O3-water nanofluid and 35.6% for TiO2-water nanofluid.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (6 Part B) ◽  
pp. 3917-3928
Author(s):  
Adnan Sozen ◽  
Sinan Gucluer ◽  
Cuma Kilinc

Heat exchangers are used in many applications including chemical, oil, and gas power generation, refrigeration, pharmaceuticals, and food processing. Because of their widespread usage, they have various types to serve at different working conditions. Increasing the performance of heat exchangers has become a very interesting field of study since the efficiency of various industrial and domestic systems depend on them. In this study, a coaxial double tube experimental set-up was prepared, and the effect of using nanohexagonal boron nitride nanofluid as hot working fluid on the heat transfer performance increase was investigated. The experiments were carried out in concurrent flow and counter flow conditions for various hot fluid-flow rates to obtain the heat transfer coefficients. Nanohexagonal boron nitride obtained in powder form was used to prepare the nanofluid by a two-step method. The 4 kg nanofluid containing 2% nanohexagonal boron nitride with 0.5% Triton X-100 as a surfactant in terms of mass ratio was prepared for the experiments. Heat transfer experiments were carried out three times by using the prepared nanohexagonal boron nitride/water nanofluid and pure water as hot fluid to reach more precise results. In the result of this study, the total heat transfer coefficient showed an average improvement of 48.78% for the concurrent flow heat exchanger, while an average improvement of 0.36% was observed in the counter flow conditions compared to the base fluid. This study shows the potential of application of nanohexagonal boron nitride/water nanofluid in heat management applications.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruo Uehara ◽  
Yasuyuki Ikegami

Optimization of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system is carried out by the Powell Method (the method of steepest descent). The parameters in the objective function consist of the velocities of cold sea water and warm sea water passing through the heat exchangers, the phase change temperature, and turbine configuration (specific speed, specific diameter, ratio of blade to diameter). Numerical results are shown for a 100-MW OTEC plant with plate-type heat exchangers using ammonia as working fluid, and are compared with calculation results for the case when the turbine efficiency is fixed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 1450005 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHUICHI TORII

This paper aims to study the convective heat transfer behavior of aqueous suspensions of nanoparticles flowing through a horizontal tube heated under constant heat flux condition. Consideration is given to the effects of particle concentration and Reynolds number on heat transfer enhancement and the possibility of nanofluids as the working fluid in various heat exchangers. It is found that (i) significant enhancement of heat transfer performance due to suspension of nanoparticles in the circular tube flow is observed in comparison with pure water as the working fluid, (ii) enhancement is intensified with an increase in the Reynolds number and the nanoparticles concentration, and (iii) substantial amplification of heat transfer performance is not attributed purely to the enhancement of thermal conductivity due to suspension of nanoparticles.


2011 ◽  
Vol 677 ◽  
pp. 417-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. GHOSH ◽  
R. FRIEDRICH ◽  
M. PFITZNER ◽  
CHR. STEMMER ◽  
B. CUENOT ◽  
...  

The interaction between turbulence in a minimal supersonic channel and radiative heat transfer is studied using large-eddy simulation. The working fluid is pure water vapour with temperature-dependent specific heats and molecular transport coefficients. Its line spectra properties are represented with a statistical narrow-band correlated-k model. A grey gas model is also tested. The parallel no-slip channel walls are treated as black surfaces concerning thermal radiation and are kept at a constant temperature of 1000 K. Simulations have been performed for different optical thicknesses (based on the Planck mean absorption coefficient) and different Mach numbers. Results for the mean flow variables, Reynolds stresses and certain terms of their transport equations indicate that thermal radiation effects counteract compressibility (Mach number) effects. An analysis of the total energy balance reveals the importance of radiative heat transfer, compared to the turbulent and mean molecular heat transport.


2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nuriyadi ◽  
Sumeru Sumeru ◽  
Henry Nasution

This study presents the effect of liquid-suction heat exchangers (LSHX) sub-cooler in a freezer. The LSHX sub-cooler is a method to increase the cooling capacity of the evaporator by lowering temperature at the condenser outlet. The decrease in temperature of the condenser outlet will cause a decrease in the quality refrigerant entering the evaporator. The lower the quality of the refrigerant entering the evaporator, the higher the cooling capacity produced by the evaporator. The LSHX sub-cooler utilizes a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the outlet of the condenser (liquid line) to the suction of the compressor. In the present study, three different LSHX sub-coolers in the freezer with cabin temperature settings of 0, -10 and -20oC were investigated. The results showed that the lowest and the highest of effectiveness of the heat exchanger were 0.28 and 0.58, respectively. The experimental results also showed that EER reduction is occurred at the cabin temperature setting of 0oC and -10oC, whereas the EER improvements were always occurred at the cabin temperature settings of -20oC.


Author(s):  
L Chen ◽  
J Zheng ◽  
F Sun ◽  
C Wu

The power density is taken as an objective for performance analysis of an irreversible closed Brayton cycle coupled to variable-temperature heat reservoirs. The analytical formulas about the relationship between power density and working fluid temperature ratio (pressure ratio) are derived with the heat resistance losses in the hot- and cold-side heat exchangers, the irreversible compression and expansion losses in the compressor and turbine, and the effect of the finite thermal capacity rate of the heat reservoirs. The obtained results are compared with those results obtained by using the maximum power criterion. The influences of some design parameters, including the temperature ratio of the heat reservoirs, the effectivenesses of the heat exchangers between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs, and the efficiencies of the compressor and the turbine, on the maximum power density are provided by numerical examples, and the advantages and disadvantages of maximum power density design are analysed. The power plant design with maximum power density leads to a higher efficiency and smaller size. When the heat transfers between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs are carried out ideally and the thermal capacity rates of the heat reservoirs are infinite, the results of this article become similar to those obtained in the recent literature.


Author(s):  
C. J. Ho ◽  
Chi-Ming Lai

Experiments were conducted to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of water-based suspensions of phase change nanocapsules in a natural circulation loop with mini-channel heat sinks and heat sources. A total of 23 and 34 rectangular mini-channels, each with width 0.8 mm, depth 1.2 mm, length 50 mm and hydraulic diameter 0.96 mm, were evenly placed on the copper blocks as the heat source and heat sink, respectively. The adiabatic sections of the circulation loop were constructed using PMMA tubes with an outer diameter of 6 mm and an inner diameter of 4 mm, which were fabricated and assembled to construct a rectangular loop with a height of 630 mm and a width of 220 mm. Using a core material of n-eicosane and a shell of urea-formaldehyde resin, the phase change material nanocapsules of mean particle size 150 nm were fabricated successfully and then dispersed in pure water as the working fluid to form the water-based suspensions with mass fractions of the nanocapsules in the range 0.1–1 wt.%. The results clearly indicate that water-based suspensions of phase change nanocapsules can markedly enhance the heat transfer performance of the natural circulation loop considered.


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