Thermophysical Properties of Vegetable Oils in Thermal Applications

The thermophysical behaviour of vegetable oils underpins their growing use in thermal management and energy systems. Key properties such as density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity exhibit strong temperature dependence and influence heat transfer performance, pumpability and storage stability. Variations in fatty acid composition, degree of saturation and molecular structure give rise to distinct rheological responses, including non-Newtonian flow at elevated shear rates and glassy transitions at subzero temperatures. Understanding these effects is essential for the design of bio-based heat transfer fluids, biodegradable lubricants and sensible thermal energy storage media. Precise characterisation across wide temperature ranges ensures reliable prediction of pump work, convective heat transfer coefficients and phase-change behaviour in applications from concentrated solar power to internal combustion engines using biofuels.

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Thermophysical Properties of Vegetable Oils in Thermal Applications publication trend

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Technical terms

Density: Mass per unit volume of a fluid, influencing buoyancy and convective heat transfer.

Dynamic viscosity: Resistance of a fluid to flow under an applied shear stress, affecting pump work and pressure drop.

Kinematic viscosity: Ratio of dynamic viscosity to density, used to compare flow behaviour independent of fluid mass.

Thermal conductivity: Measure of a material’s ability to conduct heat, critical for heat transfer performance in fluids.

Heat capacity: Amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass by one degree, determining storage and transport of thermal energy.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC): Technique that measures heat flow into or out of a sample as it is heated or cooled, identifying phase transitions.

Rheology: Study of flow and deformation of materials, here applied to temperature and shear-rate dependent viscosity behaviour.

References

1. Combined thermal analysis of plant oils. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2021).
2. Temperature Dependence of Density, Viscosity, Thermal Conductivity and Heat Capacity of Vegetable Oils for Their Use as Biofuel in Internal Combustion Engines. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science (2018).
3. Degradation of viscosity of vegetable oils employed for thermal energy storage due to oxidation in ambient temperature. Journal of Energy Storage (2023).