Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of CeO2/water nanofluid in plate heat exchanger

•Experimental investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in a plate heat exchanger.•Measurements of all the thermo-physical properties of the nanofluid have been performed.•The existence of optimum particle concentration (0.75 vol.%) has been discussed.•An optimum particle concentrations for maximum heat transfer is found to exist.•Use of nanofluid improves the heat transfer performance of plate heat exchanger.

Experimental investigations have been undertaken to explore the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a chevron-type corrugated plate heat exchanger using CeO2/water nanofluid as the coolant. The experiments were aimed for determining the heat transfer and pressure drop performance at the wide range of concentrations (0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 2.0 and 3 vol. %) for various fluid flow rates (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 lpm), and operating temperatures. Optimum concentration for CeO2/water nanofluid has been determined as well, which yields maximum heat transfer improvement over base fluid. Prior to the experiments, the required thermophysical properties of the nanofluid were measured. It was found that the nanofluid in plate heat exchanger has maximum of 39% higher heat transfer coefficient compared to water at optimum concentration of 0.75 vol. %. The heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid increases with an increase in the volume flow rate of the hot water and nanofluid, and increases with a decrease in the nanofluid temperature. Nanofluid yields significant heat transfer improvement with negligible rise in pressure drop at optimum concentration.