Measurements of density and viscosity of carbon dioxide-loaded and -unloaded nano-fluids: Experimental, genetic programming and physical interpretation approaches

Abstract

In the present study, the density and viscosity of the CO2-loaded and –unloaded base solution and nano-fluid were experimentally measured and investigated from an intermolecular point of view. Nano-fluids are composed of nano-particles such as Al2O3 (0.1 wt.%), Silica-2-methylimidazole, zinc salt (Si-ZIF-8) (0.02 wt.%), and super activated carbon (SAC) (0.1 wt.%) dispersed in aqueous and hybrid Methyl diethanolamine context (MDEA, 40 wt.%) +Sulfolane (SFL), 30 wt.%) +H2O) Experimental measurements were carried out at the low-temperature ranges 303.15–315.15 K, atmospheric pressure, and three different CO2 loadings. The results show that nanomaterials do not have a significant effect on the density and viscosity of the unloaded suspension; however, the density and viscosity of loaded suspensions and base solvent become more by increasing CO2 concentration. In the case of CO2-loaded fluids, the comparison of the results in the presence and absence of nanoparticles shows that the density of the solution is not much different in the two cases, but the viscosity of CO2-loaded in Si-ZIF-8, SAC, and γ-Al2O3 base nano-fluids in comparison with base solvent shows an increase of 35 % in high CO2 loading, ∼0.3 mol CO2 per mol MDEA. Density and viscosity experimental data were modeled using the Genetic Programming approach. The highest values of absolute average relative deviation (AARD) and root mean square error (RMSE) parameters obtained for modeling data are 3.04 and 0.317, respectively, and the lowest value of regression coefficient (R2) is 0.995, which indicates the appropriate fitting of the results.