Evaluating the effect of using nanofluids on the parabolic trough collector's performance

Abstract

Abstract Solar collectors utilize solar energy, a sustainable and renewable source, to cater to both household and industrial needs. This paper investigated the usage of mono and binary nanoparticles in parabolic trough collectors. This paper used multiwalled carbon nanotube/Fe3O4 nanoparticles as the additives to the collector heat transfer fluid (in Syltherm 800 oil) and also evaluated the performance implications of energy systems in six scenarios. A MATLAB‐based computational model is provided to investigate the influence of employing binary nanoparticles on a solar collector's performance. The influence of nanoparticle modifications and volume percentages on energy, exergy, economic, and environmental aspects is studied. Finally, the impact of nanoparticles on each of the four mentioned areas is examined. At the same total energy rate, in the best case, adding 4% by volume of Fe3O4 (Case 2) to the base fluid increases the valuable energy rate absorbed from 7.32 kW in the base state to 7.50 kW (2.5%). The carbon dioxide produced in the system life cycle by using useful energy is called EnergoEnvironmental, and the carbon dioxide produced in the system life cycle by using useful exergy is called ExergoEnvironmental. At last, the calculation of the parameters EnergoEnviroEconomic and ExergoEnviroEconomic are done, the penalty policy is considered, and the calculations are generalized to solar collector power plants due to the carbon dioxide cost policies.

Keywords

• 4E analysis
• binary nanoparticles
• solar energy
• thermal analysis