Efficacy of the number of plates, fluid flow rate and volume fractions of aluminum oxide nanoparticles on thermal performance of gasket plate heat exchanger

The analytical model using the Second Law of Thermodynamics is applied to determine the thermal performance of a gasket plate heat exchanger. The gasket plate heat exchanger under analysis was initially projected for milk pasteurization, with water as a refrigerant, a mass flow rate equal to 0.42 kg/s, and a few plates equal to 20. The present work aims to determine the thermal performance of the heat exchanger, varying the number of plates, the flow rate of the refrigerant fluid, and using nanofluid with variations of volume fractions of aluminum oxide. Thermal efficiency, thermal effectiveness, generation entropy rate, heat transfer rate, and refrigerant and milk outlet temperatures were determined for comparison. In addition, the physical configuration of the plate heat exchanger, concerning the size and heat exchange area of the plates, was maintained.