Analysis of Nanofluids Behavior in Concentrated Solar Power Collectors with Organic Rankine Cycle

In this paper, the performance of nanofluids in a Parabolic Trough Concentrating Solar Collector (CSP)-based power generation plant, an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), and a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system is studied. This study is intended to investigate the enhancement effect and characteristics of nanofluids Al₂O₃, CuO, Fe₃O₄ and SiO₂ in integrated concentrating solar power (CSP) with ORC, and TES under different solar radiations, angles of incidence, and different nanofluid concentrations. The refrigerant mixture used in the ORC loop to enhance the ORC efficiency is an environmentally sound quaternary mixture composed of R134a, R245fa, R125, R236fa. The results showed that the power absorbed, and power collected by the CSP collector and thermal energy stored in the storage tank are enhanced with the increase of the solar radiation. It was also found that the CSP hybrid system efficiency has been enhanced mainly by the increase of the solar radiation and higher nanofluid concentrations over the thermal oil as base fluid. Also, the study concludes that the nanofluid CuO outperforms the other nanofluids—Al₂O₃, Fe₃O₄ and SiO₂—and has the highest CSP solar collector performance compared to the other nanofluids and thermal oil base fluid under study at similar conditions. Finally, it was found that the model’s prediction compares fairly with data reported in the literature; however, some discrepancies exist between the model’s prediction and the experimental data.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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