Heat transfer characteristics of NiO nanofluid

in heat exchanger
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2228, 030023 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0000883
Published Online: 22 April 2020

Poppy Puspitasari, Avita Ayu Permanasari, Maizatul Shima Shaharun, et al.

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© 2020 Author(s).
 Heat Transfer Characteristics of NiO Nanofluid in Heat
Exchanger
Poppy Puspitasari1,2*, Avita Ayu Permanasari1, Maizatul Shima Shaharun3, and
Dewi Izzatus Tsamroh1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Malang,
Jl. Semarang 5, Malang 65145, Indonesia
2
Center of Nano Research and Advanced Materials, State University of Malang,
Jl. Semarang 5, Malang 65145, Indonesia
3
Fundamental and Applied Science Department, University Technology Petronas, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar,
Perak, Malaysia

*Corresponding author: poppy@um.ac.id

Abstract. The application heat tranfer process has widely used in several areas of industry, one of regular device that
used is heat exchanger that could be found in cooling system, refineries, power plant, etc. The commonly fluids used in
heat exchanger were water, minral oil, and ethylene glycol which has poor heat transfer characteristic. Therefore,
nanofluid was used to improve the heat transfer characteristic of fluid used in heat exchanger. This study added NiO
nanoparticle (siintering and unsintering) into distlled water. This study aimed to determine the heat transfer
characteristics of NiO nanofluid both sintering and unsintering by using laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and
tube. The experiment conducted in this study used the variation of flow rate (0.45,0.9, and 1.35 l/m). The test results
indicated that the best performance of nanofluid was found at NiO-sinterting nanofluid.

INTRODUCTION
The process of heat transfer could be found in several areas, including heat exchangers, cooling processes,
heating and chemical processes [1]. One of device that often found in various industrial setting is heat exchanger,
which is an integral component in cooling systems, refineries, and power plant [2], [3]. The common fluid that used
in heat exchanger such as water, mineral oil and ethylene glycol has poor heat transfer characteristic compared with
solid material, therefore requires an effort to enhance the heat transfer characteristic of fluid [1]. One of efforts that
could be conducted to enhance it is by improving the thermal properties of energy transmission fluid, it could be
carried out by suspending solid materials in small size to improve the thermal conductivities of fluid. There are
many kind of solid material such as metallic, non metallic and polymeric powders that could be added into fluid [4].
According to the previous research, could be known that the administration of metallic material into base fluid
significantly increase the thermal conductivity of fluid, therefore improving the capability of heat transfer [5].
The administration of solid material into heat transfer fluid could enhance the heat transfer process [6], but the
addition of solid material in milimeter or micrometer size would cause several problems including abrasion,
clogging, high pressure drop and sedimentation of materials [4], [6]. Based on these problems, nanoparticle in fluid
that called nanofluid provides great solutions, it not only enhances the thermal conductivity but also provides long
term stability and low pressure drop [1]. The application of nanoparticle in fluid is an effective way to improve heat
transfer characteristics of fluid [7]. Several previous researchs show that the administration of nanoparticle creates
greater energy absorption than pure water at low flow rate and no absorption at high flow rate [8].
The potential of nanofluid could be implemented in all of heat transfer aspects [9]. There are several metal
oxides nanofluids that have been utilized in the previous study such as Al 2O3, TiO2, and SiO [5], but there have not
been many studies that investigating Nickel oxide as nanofluid mixture. NiO nanofluid has a good stability as heat
Renewable Energy and Its Applications
AIP Conf. Proc. 2228, 030023-1–030023-9; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0000883
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1987-2/$30.00

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transfer fluid [10], [11]. This study aimed to determine the heat transfer characteristic of NiO nanofluid (sintering
and unsintering) as heat transfer fluid with variation of flow rate (0.45, 0.9, and 1.35 l/m) in laboratory-scale heat
exchanger type of shell and tube.

METHODOLOGY

Experimental Setup

Experimental setup was conducted in laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube. The following
figure shown heat exchanger scheme where hot fluid flowed through the shell. This setup used NiO-distilled water
as the coolant which flowed through four small pipes in the shell. The hot and cold water that flowed in the heat
exchangers was parallel flow.

FIGURE 1. Scheme of laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube.

Table 1 described the specifications of heat exchanger.

TABLE 1. Specification of laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube.
Tool Size
Tube diameter 21.45 mm
Tube length 382 mm
Shell diameter 8.42 mm
Shell length 382 mm
Flowmeter 2 pieces
Three-way valve 3 pieces
Pump 2 pieces
Heater 1 piece
Gate valve 5 pieces

NiO Nanoparticle

Nickel oxide (NiO) was important transition metal oxide that had cubic lattice structure [12]. NiO nanoparticle
appeared in green powder form and included to allergic material (toxic) [13]. Previous study that had been
conducted utilized NiO nanoparticles as catalyst due to its superior properties [14], beside that NiO nanoparticle also
had been utilized as nanofluid due to its good stability [10], [11]. Table 2 shown the thermophysical properties of
Nickel oxide.

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 TABLE 2. Thermophysical Properties of Nickel oxide (NiO) [13]
Specification Value
Clarity 99.5%
Molecular weight 74.71 Gr mol-1
Density 6670 kg/m-3
Thermal conductivity 46.024 Wm-1K
Specific Heat 603 J/kg-1K

Distilled Water as the Base Fluid

Nowadays, most of studies used distilled water or amixture of distilled water and ethylene glycol as the base
fluid. This study used pure distilled water as base fluid of nanofluid. The following table shown the thermophysical
properties of distilled water.

TABLE 3. Thermophysical Properties of Distilled Water [15]

Specification Value
Clarity 99.5%
Melting point 0˚C
Boiling point 99.974˚C
Density 999.975 kg/m-3
Thermal conductivity 0.6 W/m-1K
Specific heat 4187 J/kg-1K

Nanofluid Preparation

The preparation of nanofluid was not as simple as pouring the nanoparticle into base fluid, the fluid should be
synthesized according to procedure. Nanparticle that used in this study was Nickel oxide with sintering and
unsintering process. The synthesis of nanofluid in this study was conducted according to two-steps method that also
called dispersion method with the devices below:
x Magnetic Stirrer
Stirring the nanofluid with magnetic stirrer purposed to blend nanoparticle into the base fluid within 30
minutes.
x Ultrasonic Sonicator
Ultrasonicating process was conducted by using ultrasonic sonicator device (MTI Corporation, KG-MT 3N
type) in 100% power. Ultrasonicating process conducted in high frequency for 2 hours to reduce the
agglomeration of nanoparticle and to disperse the nanoparticle and yielded stable nanofluid.
Thus the fluids used in this study consisted of three kind of nanofluid that made of distilled water, NiO-sintering
nanofluid, and NiO-unsintering nanofluid.

Thermophysical Properties Calculation

The calculation of thermophysical properties purposed to determine the working parameters of nanofluid, such
as density, specific heat, viscosity, and thermal conductivity. Density was the mass per-unit-volume. This study used
Formula 1 to obtain the density value [16].

(1)

Where was the density of nanofluid (kg/m3), was the desnity of base fluid (kg/m3), was the density of
3
nanoparticle (kg/m ), and was the concentration of nanoparticle (%).

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 Specific heat was the heat required to increase the temperature of 1 kg substance per 1˚C. This research used
Formula 2 to determine the specific heat of nanofluid [17].

(2)

Where was specific heat of nanofluid (J/kg-1K), was specific heat of base fluid (J/kg-1K), was
-1
specific heat of nanoparticle (J/kg K), and was concentration of nanoparticle (%).
Viscosity was internal fluid resistance against the flow. Here, the viscosity test used Ostwald viscometer and the
value then put into the equation. This research used Formula 3 to achieve the viscosity of nanofluid [18].

(3)

Where was viscosity of nnaofluid (Pa), was viscosity of base fluid (Pa), was measurement time of
nanofluid in viscometer (s), was density of nanofluid (kg/m3), was measurement time of base fluid in
viscometer (s), was density of base fluid (kg/m3).
Thermal conductivity was a substance property related to the heat conduction. This study used Formula 4 to
obtain the thermal conductivity of nanofluid [19].

(4)

Where was thermal conductivity of nanofluid (W/mԨ), was thermal conductivity of base fluid (W/mԨ),
was thermal conductivity of nanoparticle (W/mԨ), dan was concentration of nanoparticle (%).

Calculation of Heat Transfer Characteristics

In this study, heat transfer was convective heat transfer inside the cylindric wall and conductive heat transfer.
This study used Formula 5 to obtain the convective coefficient [20].

(5)

Where h was the convective coefficient, Nu was the Nusselt number, k was the thermal conductivity of nanofluid
(W/mԨ), and L was the length of pipe (m).
This research used Nusselt number in laminar flow with Formula 6 [20].

(6)

where Nu was the Nusselt number, Re was the Reynolds Number, Pr was the Prandtl number, d was the diameter of
pipe (m), L was the length of pipe (m), Ɋ was the viscosity of nanofluid (kg/m3), and was the viscosity of wall
(kg/m3).
This research used Formula 2 to obtain the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers [20].

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 (7)

(8)

Where Re was the Reynolds number, ν was the velocity, was the density of nanofluid, Ɋ was the viscosity of
nanofluid (kg/m3), Pr was the Prandtl number, Cp was the specific heat of nanofluid (J/kg-1K), and k was the thermal
conductivity of nanofluid.
Conductive heat transfer required thermal resistance of the pipe wall. The heat exchanger type affected the
thermal resistance. This study used heat exchanger type of shell and tube, hence used Formula 9 to determine the
thermal resistance of wall [20].

(9)

Where Rwall was the thermal resistance of wall, Do was the outer diameter of pipe, Di was the inner diameter of pipe,
k was the thermal conductivity of nanofluid, and L was the length of pipe (m).
This study used Formula 10 to obtain overall heat transfer coefficient in the cylindric section of the heat
exchanger [20].

(10)

Where U was the overall heat transfer coefficient, Do was the outer diameter of pipe, Di was the inner diameter of
pipe, k was the thermal conductivity of nanofluid, L was the length of pipe (m), h1 was the heat transfer coefficient
of nanofluid, and h2 was the heat transfer coefficient of hot fluid.
This study used log-mean temperature difference (LMTD) to obtain the heat transfer. The method of LMTD was
more accurate formula compared to the average temperature difference since ΔTLMTD < ΔTavg. This study used
Formula 11 to calculate the ΔTLMTD [20].

(11)

where ΔT1 was the delta temperature in inlet, and ΔT2 was the delta temperature in outlet.
After obtaining ΔTLMTD, the last step was to calculate the heat transfer using Formula 12 [20].

 (12)

where q was heat transfer, U was the overall heat transfer coefficient, and A was the total surface area.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Thermophysical Properties Test Results

The working parameters of nanofluid required testing and calculating thermophysical properties such as density,
specific heat, viscosity, and thermal conductivity, and in turn affect the heat transfer characteristic of fluid. The
following table was the calculation result of fluid that used in this study.

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 TABLE 4. Thermophysical Properties of Nanofluids [15]
Specific Heat Viscocity Thermal
Specification Density (kg/m3) (J/kgoC) (Pa) Conductivity
(W/kgoC)
Distilled Water 1000 4184 0.001 0.603
NiO-Sintering 1290.5 4004.95 0.0016 0.630
NiO-Unsintering 1290.5 4004.95 0.0019 0.630

Table 4 above shown the result of thermophysical properties test of fluid that used in this study. According to the
table 4, the density value of NiO nanofluid both sintering and unsintering nanofluid had the higher density value
than distilled water. The density value of nanofluid depended on nanoparticle material [21]. Nanoparticle had the
greater density compared to base fluid. The density of distilled water was 1000 kg/m 3, while the density of NiO
nanofluid both sintering and unsintering were 1290.5 kg/m3.
Specific heat of distilled water was higher than the specific heat of NiO nanofluid. Specific heat of nanofluid was
decreasing along with the addition of nanoparticle. Specific heat of nanofluid was the heat that required to increase
temperature of 1 kg nanofluid by 1˚C. Specific heat of distilled water was 4148 J/kgoC, while specific heat of NiO
nanofluid both sintering and unsintering nanofluid was 4004.95 kg/m3.
According to table 4, viscosity of NiO nanofluid both sintering and unsintering were higher than viscocity of
distilled water. This was related with rheology properties on nanofluid viscosity. Rheology properties was physical
properties that affected nanofluid flow. The total surface area of nanoparticle affected the rheology properties [22].
Therefore, the addition of nanoparticle into base fluid affected the flow properties. The viscosity of distilled water
was 0.001 Pa and the viscocity of NiO nanofluid was slightly higher which was 0.0016 Pa for NiO-sintering
nanofluid, and 0.0019 Pa for NiO-unsintering nanofluid.
Thermal conductivity of distilled water and NiO nanofluid also shown in Table 4. The addition of nanoparticle
into base fluid increased the thermal conductivity of nanofluid. The increasing thermal conductivity of nanofluid,
resultted the better thermophysical properties of nanofluid [23]. Thus, by adding NiO nanoparticle into distilled
water would improve the thermal conductivity of nanofluid resulted. The thermal conductivity of distilled water was
0.603 W/kgoC, while the thermal conductivity value of NiO nanofluid both sintering and unsintering nanofluid was
0.630 W/kgoC.

Characteristic Test Results

The value of Reynolds number, Nusselt number, convective coefficient, overall heat transfer coefficient,
ΔTLMTD, and heat transfer were obtained after conducting the test and calculation of heat transfer characteristics.
This test was carried out by using laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube.

FIGURE 2. The Reynolds number of nanofluids with flow rate variation

Figure 2 shown the increment of Reynolds number was along with the increment of nanofluid flow rate. The
increasing flow rate affected the Reynolds number. The flow of Reynolds was inversely proportionate with the

030023-6
increasing nanoparticle concentration, because nanoparticle addition increased the viscosity and decreased the
velocity, thus, decreasing the Reynolds number. The Reynolds number was used to determine the flow type of
nanofluid and as reference to get the Nusselt number. The lowest Reynolds number was found at NiO-unsintering
nanofluid which was 207.95 at the flow rate of 0.45 l/m, while the highest was found at distilled water which was
904.75 at the flow rate of 1.35 l/m.

(a) (b)
FIGURE 3. (a) The Nusselt number of nanofluids with flow rate variation, (b) The convective coefficient resulted by nanofluids
with flow rate variation

There was correlation between Nusselt number and convective coefficient, to obatin convective coefficient
required Nusselt number. Figure 3 (a) and (b) shown that both results were directly proportionate and tended to
increase along with the increasing of nanofluid flow rate in laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube..
Figure 3 (a) shown the lowest Nusselt number was found at distilled water with the value of 6.56 at the flow rate
of 0.45 l/m. The highest Nusselt number was found at NiO-sintering nanofluid with the value of 14.64 at the flow
rate of 1.35 l/m. While Figure 7 (b), shown the similar result that the lowest convective coefficient was found at
distilled water with the value of 10.36 W/moC at the flow rate of 0.45 l/m, and the highest convective coefficient
was found at NiO-sintering nanofluid with the value of 24.18 W/moC at the flow rate of 1.35 l/m,

FIGURE 4. The overall coefficient of nanofluids with flow rate variation.

Figure 4 presented the increment of overall heat transfer coefficient was along with the increment of nanofluid
flow rate. Nanoparticle concentration also affected the increasing value of overall heat transfer coefficient, that
indicated with the lowest value of overall heat tranfer coefficient found at distilled water. The lowest value of
overall heat transfer coefficient was 41.44 W/moC at flow rate of 0.45 l/m, while the highest value was found at
NiO-sintering nanofluid with the value of 96.72 W/moC at flow rate of 1.35 l/m.

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 (a) (b)
FIGURE 5. (a) The ΔTLMTD nanofluids with flow rate variation, (b) The heat transfer nanofluids with flow rate variation

Figure 5 (a) shown the significant increasing of ΔTLMTD along with the increasing of flow rate on each nanofluid.
Thermal conductivity of nanoparticle affected the value of ΔTLMTD; in other words, the higher concentration of
nanoparticle yielded the higher ΔTLMTD. The lowest value of ΔTLMTD was found at distilled water with the value of
19.95˚C at the flow rate of 0.45 l/m, while the highest value of ΔTLMTD was found at NiO-sintering nanofluid with
the value of 23.46˚C at the flow rate of 1.35 l/m. Figure 9 (b) shown that heat transfer using LMTD method was
significantly increased along with the increment of ΔTLMTD. The lowest heat transfer was found at distilled water
with the value of 23.50 joule at the flow rate of 0.45 l/m, and the best heat transfer was found at NiO-sintering
nanofluid with the value of 48.30 J at the flow rate of 1.35 l/m.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the study result about the effect of addition NiO into base fluid with flow rate variation using
laboratory-scale heat exchanger type of shell and tube type, could be concluded several conclusion, as follow:
x The addition NiO nanoparticle into base fluid improved thermophysical properties of nanofluid
x Thermophysical properties increased along with the increased flow rate
x Nanopartticle and nanoflluid flow rate improved the heat transfer characteristic
x The best heat transfer was found at NiO-sintering naofluid with the value of 48.30 J with flow rate of 1.35
l/m.
x The best performance of nanofluid was found at NiO-sintering nanofluid.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Author would like to thank Universitas Negeri Malang under PNBP 2019 project entitle “Sintesis dan Karakterisasi
Nickel Oxide sebagai Nanofluida Magnetik pada Heat Exchanger” for PP.

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