Investigations on the thermal and electrical conductivity of polyethylene glycol-based CuO and ZnO nanofluids

In this experimental work, three different types of nanofluids were evaluated for their stability using dynamic light scattering and particle morphological study using scanning electron microscopy. The nanofluids used in this study are zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle in water and 5 wt% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a dispersant, and ZnO with polyethylene glycol (PEG 600) and CuO with PEG 600 with 5 wt% PVP at different concentration of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 wt%. Thermal and electrical conductivities were determined by KD-2 Pro® and PC 700 Eutech®. The result shows better enhancement in the thermal and electrical conductivity in the ZnO+PVP+Water system, followed by the CuO+PVP+PEG and ZnO+PEG systems. The highest percentage enhancement in thermal conductivity found to be 35.5% of ZnO+ PVP+water systems. The thermal conductivity results were compared with a theoretical model and show good agreement with results predicted by the model. The proposed model of Nan et al. (1997) is based on a hypothesis regarding the physical mechanism in heat transfer for nanofluids. This study is expected to form the basis for the development of nanofluid-based technologies with PEG as the primary additive in the upstream oil and gas industry especially in gas hydrates and drilling technology.