I-Corps: Nanofluids Technology

炼油厂广泛使用热交换器用于多种目的，包括加热和冷却反应器和生产容器，中间产品（分馏）以及各种溶剂的冷凝。其他加工工业（例如，食品加工）也有类似的加热和冷却需求，因此导致广泛使用不同类型的热交换器。随着时间的推移，热交换器的广泛使用导致其性能下降，这是由于结垢和腐蚀，以及由于不能提供恒定的冷却。由于与石化和其他加工工业相关的高运营和资本成本，缺乏立即的解决方案来防止炼油厂中的这些现有问题。纳米流体技术是一种很有前途的解决方案，可以通过提高能源效率（通过增强冷却剂的材料特性）以及减轻结垢和腐蚀引起的问题来应对这些挑战。I-Corps项目的拟议任务将使市场调查和确定这些行业的瓶颈？从而加速该技术的预期发展，并根据客户需求更有效地插入和部署纳米流体技术。纳米流体能够改变传热流体的热流体特性，以促进更好的热管理。这在各种行业中都有应用，包括：发电、运输（汽车、航空航天等）、化学和食品加工，生命科学（例如，用于核酸分析的快速热循环）、建筑物、国防和国土安全、石油和天然气勘探。 I-Corps团队将在石化行业进行市场调查，以有针对性地部署纳米流体技术，目标是提高热交换器的性能。I-Corps团队将确定需要改进的纳米流体技术的不足之处，以更好地响应市场需求，并将利用该技术的固有优势。纳米流体技术将用于各种类型的热交换器，以说服潜在客户其功效。这一技术演示将加强技术要求，并将以客户调查得出的目标指标为指导。将对纳米流体技术进行技术经济可行性分析，以建立新的合资企业。

Oil refineries use heat exchangers extensively for multiple purposes, which include heating and cooling of the reactors and production containers, intermediate products (fractional distillation), as well as condensation of various solvents. Other process industries (e.g., food processing) also have similar needs for heating and cooling, thus resulting in extensive use of different types of heat exchangers. Over time, the widespread use of the heat exchangers leads to their decline in their performance due to fouling and corrosion, as well as due to the inability to provide for their constant cooling. There is a lack of immediate solution to prevent these existing issues in the refineries, due to high operating and capital costs associated with the petrochemical and other process industries. Nanofluids Technology is a promising solution to combat these challenges by improving the energy efficiency (through enhancement of the material properties of the coolants) as well as mitigating issues due to fouling and corrosion. The proposed tasks in the I-Corps project will enable the market survey and identification of bottlenecks in these industries ? thus accelerating the anticipated development of this technology and by enabling more effective insertion and deployment of the Nanofluids Technology based on customer needs.Nanofluids are capable of altering the thermo-fluidic properties of heat transfer fluids to facilitate better thermal management. This has applications in various industries, including: power generation, transportation (automotive, aerospace, etc.), chemical and food processing, life sciences (e.g., rapid thermal cycling for nucleic acid analyses), buildings, defense and homeland security, oil and gas exploration. The I-Corps team will perform market surveys in the petro-chemical industry for targeted deployment of Nanofluids Technology with the goal of improving the performance of heat exchangers. The I-Corps team will identify the deficient aspects of Nanofluids Technology that need to be improved to be more responsive to the market needs and will leverage the inherent benefits of this technology. The Nanofluids Technology will be demonstrated for various types of heat exchangers to convince the potential customers of its efficacy. This technical demonstration will strengthen the technology requirements and will be guided by target metrics derived from the customer surveys. Techno-economic feasibility analyses of Nanofluids Technology will be performed with the intent of establishing new ventures.