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8th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC)
March, 26-29, 2023, College Park, MD, USA

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF ADDING NANOPARTICLES TO SEAWATER IN RAPID COOLING SYSTEM

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DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2023.the.045954

Abstract

Nuclear energy, along with geothermal, natural gas, solar, and wind turbines, is regarded as one of the most productive energy sources. Finding the most dependable heat-exchanging fluid medium as an emergency coolant to cool nuclear fuel rods in an overheating phenomenon is becoming increasingly crucial in nuclear plant security. Researchers have been performing several studies to develop novel working fluids and have reported that seawater significantly improves heat transfer. This research aims to investigate the effect of introducing a new type of nanoparticle, such as boron nitride nanopowder (BN), on heat transfer enhancement utilizing distilled water and seawater as base fluids. The Seawater samples are collected from different stages of a reverse osmosis desalination facility located in the Doha substation, Kuwait. The Semi-quantitative calculation (SQX) results of the seawater samples are analyzed and reported in this work. The water quality comparisons are based on pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and conductivity. Zirconium rods are heated to 700°C then quenched in the liquid pool at atmospheric pressure and saturation temperature. The heat transfer characteristics of the seawater samples are evaluated based on the minimum film boiling temperature (Tmin), quenching time, and heat flux for each case. To further investigate the heat transfer behavior, BN nanopowder is added to the best case of seawater sample. The results speculate a significant improvement in Tmin and quenching time by introducing BN in distilled water. Exceptionally high critical heat flux (CHF) is attained by employing a hybrid system of seawater and BN, leading to the development of a novel, efficient heat-exchanging fluid.