Thermo-physical properties of the nano-binary fluid (acetone–zinc bromide-ZnO) as a low temperature operating fluid for use in an absorption refrigeration machine

Abstract

The current technical note is an expression for extending aspects of the previous work of Ajib and Karno [1] which related to the thermophysical properties of acetone / ZnBr2. The study covers the thermal conductivity of a solution which appears to be a promising fluid for operating vapour absorption refrigeration (VAR) systems from a low temperature source. It covers also an investigation of acetone / ZnBr2 – ZnO nanofluid including the preparation, stability, structure and properties, a zinc based nanoparticle being chosen in order to reduce chemical interactions. Furthermore, this study illustrates an extension of the log p, T diagram of the acetone zinc bromide up to 1.39 bar. The results show that the thermal conductivity drops with increasing salt concentration. With increasing nanoparticles, the density, viscosity and the thermal conductivity increase, as expected, but the heat capacity drops. Both theoretical and experimentally derived formulae for ZnO nano fluid conductivity from the literature are seen to produce good correspondence to the conductivity measured here, but in the case of the theoretical formula, the influence of particle morphology is seen to be significant. The results indicate that converting the acetone / ZnBr2 to a nanofluid provides a potential improvement of performance of this fluid in the vapour absorption refrigeration system, but that suspension stability is difficult to attain.