Energy, exergy, economic and environmental (4E) analysis of a parabolic trough solar collector using MXene based silicone oil nanofluids

The present study is a 4E (Energy, Exergy, Economic, and Environmental) analysis of a nanofluid-based parabolic trough collector (PTC) which is conducted with a developed model in MATLAB. MXene (Ti3C2) nanoparticles were added to the silicon oil at weight concentrations of 0.05, 0.08, and 0.1%. The result was the important enhancement of the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid on the rand of 70%–89% for the highest concentration. According to the results, the PTC's optical efficiency was estimated at 79%, while thermal and exergy efficiencies of 74.71% and 22.44% with 0.10 wt% concentration were recorded on July 17, 2019. It is found that the MXene based silicone oil can reduce the system's cost by 0.021 M$ and enhance the energy gained by 1.51% at 0.10 wt% concentration compared to pure oil. Also, the annual CO2 mitigation from the energy side varies from 2.25 to 2.30-ton CO2/year, while the annual environmental gain ranged between 32.73 and 33.28 $/year and 9.065 to 9.102 $/year for the energy and exergy studies respectively. [Display omitted] •A nanofluid-based parabolic trough collector is studied with MXene.•The collector thermal efficiency enhancement is found up to 1.1%.•For the day July 17, 2019, the exergy efficiency was improved from 0.07% to 15.16%.•For energy analysis, the annual CO2 mitigation varies from 2.26 to 2.30 ton CO2.•The environmental gain from the energy analysis varies from 32.73 to 33.28 $/year.