Evaluation of a dual-purpose solar collector using mono-nanofluids: A CFD simulation

This study analyzes a dual-purpose solar collector using multi-walled carbon nanotube-water and copper oxide-water mono-nanofluids at a 0.5% volume concentration via computational fluid dynamics in ANSYS Fluent. In the first phase, varying air flow rates showed a 25% temperature increase for nanofluids versus 13% for water, with heat gains of 970.168 W for copper oxide-water and 965.939 W for multi-walled carbon nanotube-water, yielding efficiencies of 62.77 and 56.56%. In the second phase, with constant air flow and varying liquid flow rates, both nanofluids exhibited temperature rises of 4–10 °C, exceeding water's by 2–5 °C. Copper oxide-water provided a heat gain of 1591.93 W and 97% efficiency, while multi-walled carbon nanotube-water reached 1563.19 W and 95%. Conventional water gained 1152.06 W with 70% efficiency. Nanofluids, particularly copper oxide–water, can enhance solar system performance.