International Journal of Refrigeration
35 (2012) 1410 - 1417

Effect of lubricating oil on the flow and heat transfer characteristics ofsupercritical carbon dioxide
Chaobin DANG*, Keitaro HOSHIKA, Eiji HIHARA
Department of Human and Engineered Environment, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The
University of Tokyo, Kashiwa-Shi, Chiba, Japan
Tel./Fax: 81-47-136-4647, dangcb@k.u-tokyo.ac.jp*Corresponding Author
ABSTRACT
Effects of lubricating oil on heat transfer performance of supercritical CO2 were studied byapplying three lubricants: PAG, PVE, and ECP. Heat transfer coefficient measurements andflow-pattern visualization were conducted in a horizontal tube of 2 mm I.D. at CO2 pressuresfrom 8 to 10 MPa and mass fluxes from 800 to 1200 kg m-2s-1. The solubility of lubricants with
CO2 was found having remarkable influence on both the flow pattern and heat transfer
coefficient. For PVE, which has the highest CO2 solubility, oil droplets can only be observed
occasionally and the oil film can hardly be identified at temperatures lower than Tpc, and the heattransfer coefficient does not greatly change with oil concentration. At higher temperatures, adecrease in the heat transfer coefficient with increasing oil concentration was observed for all
three lubricants due to the formation of oil film. The experiments show that while ECP is inferior
to PVE, it provides better heat transfer performance than PVG.
Keywords: CO2, Lubricat, heat transfer, Polyalkylene glycol, Polyvinyl ether, ECP
NOMENCLATURE
A
α
G
P
Q
x
T
ΔT


surface areaheat transfer coefficientmass fluxpressure
heat exchange rate
oil concentration
temperature
average temperature difference
deterioration factor(m2)(W m-2K-1 )(kg m2s-1)
(MPa)
(W)
(wt%)
(°C)
(°C)

Subscripts
CO2
in
oil
pc
out
w
water

CO2
inlet
oil
pseudocriticaloutletwall
water

1. INTRODUCTION
Carbon dioxide, CO2, is being reintroduced as an environmentally benign working fluid forrefrigeration and air conditioning systems because of increasing concerns regarding thecontribution of conventional refrigerants to ozone depletion and global warming. Owing to its
low critical point, a transcritical cycle is proposed for CO2 systems. A great deal of research has
been carried out on transcritical heat pump cycles and heat transfer characteristics of CO2 at bothsupercritical and subcritical pressure. Previous studies such as those by Tanaka et al. (1967),
Fang et al. (2001), and Dang et al. (2004) showed that the heat transfer characteristics of CO2 at

1supercritical pressure differ from those of fluids with constant properties. CO2 has a better heattransfer performance owing to its low viscosity and high specific heat, especially within thepseudocritical temperature region. However, because of the entrainment of lubricating oils, boththe heat transfer performance of CO2 and the system performance in an actual heat pump system
may be markedly worse than the predicted value for pure CO2. Therefore, it is essential to clarify
the effects of lubricating oils on the heat transfer characteristics of CO2.
Hwang et al. (2007) experimentally investigated the distribution of PAG (polyalkylene glycol)
oil in a CO2 transcritical system by measuring the amount of oil retained in the suction line,
evaporator, and gas cooler at various refrigerant mass flow rates and oil concentrations. They
reported that about 50% of the oil was retained within the heat exchangers and suction line; thisresulted in a large pressure drop, a decrease in the heat transfer performance, and concern
regarding the reliability of the system. Zingerli and Groll (2000) measured the heat transfer
coefficient and pressure drop of a CO2-POE (polyol ester) mixture at three oil concentrations—
0%, 2%, and 5.0%—in a tube with a 2.85-mm I.D. Their results showed a 15% decrease in theheat transfer coefficient at an oil concentration of 2% and a 25% decrease at a concentration of
5%, within the near-pseudocritical temperature region. However, they also reported that the heattransfer was promoted at high temperatures. Gao and Honda (2002) investigated the heat transfer
characteristics of supercritical CO2 with PAG oil and reported a maximum decrease of 40% at an
oil concentration of 1%. Dang et al. (2007, 2008) investigated the flow pattern and heat transfer
characteristics of a CO2-PAG oil mixture in horizontal tubes with I.D. ranging from 1 mm to 6
mm. A significant influence of the oil on the heat transfer was confirmed for a small-diametertube at a large oil concentration. The decrease in the heat transfer was due to the formation of anoil-rich layer along the walls of the test tube. In addition, Yun et al. (2006) investigated theeffects of oil on the heat transfer characteristics of supercritical CO2 within a microchannel witha hydraulic diameter of 1.0 mm. They measured the cooling heat transfer coefficient and pressure
drop of the oil-PAG mixture at oil concentrations of 0%–4% and pressures of 8.4 MPa and 10.4
MPa. The results showed that the average heat transfer coefficient decreased by 9.6% at an oilconcentration of 2% and by 20.4% at a concentration of 4% as compared with that of pure CO2.
Most of the above studies concentrated on the effect of PAG oil because it is the most widelyused lubricant in CO2 heat-pump water heaters. PAG oil shows excellent compatibility with CO2,
but the solubility of CO2 in PAG oil is poor, leading to difficulties in oil return and deteriorationof the heat transfer performance. Several new lubricating oils have been developed for CO2 heatpumps (e.g., Sawada 2008, Kaneko et al. 2008), but their effects on the heat transfer performance
are unclear. In this study, we investigated three lubricants for CO2 systems—PAG, polyvinyl
ether (PVE), and a newly proposed PAG-PVE copolymer (ECP)—to clarify the flow patterns of
CO2-oil mixtures and their influence on the heat transfer characteristics of supercritical CO2.
2. COMPARISON OF LUBRICATING OILS
Lubricating oil is commonly used in compressors for lubrication, cooling, and sealing. PAGtype oil is commonly used for CO2 heat pumps, although its viscosity changes with thecompressor design of the manufacturer. Kaneko et al. (2006) compared PAG oil with POE oil
and considered the following five aspects: -40 °C starting torque, oil return, shue/plate lubricity,
bearing fatigue life, and stability. They reported that, with the exception of oil return, PAG oil issuperior to POE oil in all these five aspects. With the widespread use of CO2 heat-pump water
heaters in Japan, the development of new lubricating oils is underway. Sawada (2008) reported a2new POE oil showing better lubricity and stability with CO2 under supercritical conditions.
Kaneko et al. (2008) developed ECP oil, which is a PAG-PVE-type copolymer oil. It has beenreported that ECP oil retains not only the good stability and lubricity of PAG oil but also has
better viscosity.
Three lubricating oils—PAG, PVE, and ECP—were tested in this research in order to verify theeffects of oil on the flow pattern and heat transfer performance of supercritical CO2. The ECP oil
is a copolymer of PAG and PVE oils and has a solubility and viscosity between those of PAG
and PVE. Table 1 shows the molecular structure, viscosity and thermal conductivity of the threelubricants. For both lubricants, the viscosity decreases dramatically with temperature whereas thethermal conductivity decreases slightly with temperature. PAG has the largest viscosity while
PVE has the smallest value. The viscosity of ECP lies between those two values. In addition,
there is no significant difference in thermal conductivity among the three oils as shown in Table
1. Figure 1 shows the two-phase separation temperature of these three oils with CO2 undersubcritical conditions. Among the three oils, PVE has the smallest separation region and PAG
has the largest. Although the temperature for two-phase separation under supercritical conditions
is yet to be determined, it is easy to deduce that PVE has the best miscibility with supercritical
CO2 whereas PAG has the worst. When the oil separates from supercritical CO2, some CO2 may
dissolve in the oil, leading to a decrease in oil viscosity and surface tension. Both thethermophysical properties of CO2 and its solubility in oil change with temperature inside the gas
cooler, resulting in difficulties in predicting the flow pattern and heat transfer characteristics of
the CO2-oil mixture.
3. EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND DATA REDUCTION
3.1 Experimental Loop
The experimental loop shown in Fig. 2 is composed of three parts: a main loop, a test loop,
and an oil-adjustment loop. The main loop is a CO2 heat-pump cycle that supplies supercritical
CO2 to the test section at the desired temperature and pressure. The test loop includes a heattransfer test section, a visual section, and an oil-sampling section. The heat-transfer test section isa tube-in-tube-type heat exchanger with a length of 0.5 m, as shown in Fig. 3. Supercritical CO2
flows through the inner section of the smooth horizontal tube having an inner diameter of 2 mm
and is cooled by the water flowing inside the annular passage. The inner and outer tubes are
made of smooth copper and acrylic resin, respectively. The external tube of the acrylic resin wascovered with polystyrene insulation layer having a thickness of 25 mm to minimize heat loss tothe environment. Pt100 sensors were used to measure the temperatures of CO2 and water at the
inlet and outlet of the test section. The wall temperature was measured at ten locations using
type-T thermocouples placed evenly along the tube. The inner wall temperatures at the ten
locations were calculated from the corresponding outer wall temperatures by solving onedimensional heat conduction equations. The thermocouples and Pt100 sensors were calibrated toan accuracy of ±0.1 ºC and ±0.03 ºC, respectively. The CO2 pressures at the inlet and outlet of
the test section were measured using a pressure transducer with a measurement uncertainty of±0.001 MPa. The mass flow rate of the refrigerant was measured using a Coriolis-type mass flow
meter with an accuracy of 0.1% F.S. The accuracy of the water-side mass-flow rate was 0.5%
F.S.
The visualization section was located behind the test section. The visualization images were3

recorded through a sight glass using a high-speed CCD camera with a maximum speed of 70,000
fps. The assembled sight glass, shown in Fig. 4, is made of sapphire and can withstand a pressureof up to 20 MPa. The inner diameter of the sapphire tube is 2 mm with a glass thickness of 14mm. Because the refractive index of the sapphire glass is 1.76, which is much higher than therefractive index of air, the sight glass was placed in a water box to reduce the refraction of theincoming light while passing through the glass.
The concentration of oil was controlled by adjusting the amount flowing into the test section
using an oil flow meter and a needle valve. The oil-sampling section was placed behind the test
section, and the temperature of CO2 was maintained at 25 ˚C using a sub-cooler. Inside the oilsampling section, the refrigerant-oil mixture was sampled, and the concentration of the
lubricating oil in the refrigerant was weighed by releasing the refrigerant carefully using a needle
valve. It should be noted that the measured oil concentration is actually the oil retention ratio, notthe oil circulation ratio. Although the oil circulation ratio is simultaneously recorded using an oil
flow meter, the amount of oil retained is used to define the oil concentration, to maintainconsistency with our previous research (e.g., Dang et al. (2007, 2008)).
3.2 Experimental Conditions and Data Reduction
The experimental parameters considered in this study were mass flux, pressure, oil type, andoil concentration, as shown in Table 2. Under each experimental condition, the CO2 inlet
temperature was varied from 30 ºC to 70 ºC. The concentration of the PAG, PVE, and ECP
lubricating oils were varied from 0.5–5.0 wt%.
The heat transfer coefficient was calculated from the heat flux and average temperature
difference between the refrigerant and wall:

Qwater,A  TLMTDWater(1)

where Qwater is calculated from the heat exchange rate of the waterside, as shown in equation (2).
(2)
Qwater  M water  C pwater Twater ,out  T water ,in 
The mean temperature difference ΔT is defined as follows:
TLMTDw T

CO 2in  Tw,in  TCO2out  Tw,out
 TCO2in  Tw,in ln  TCO out  Tw,out 
 2




(3)

To evaluate the deterioration in the heat transfer coefficient by the entrainment of the different
oils, a deterioration factor,  , is defined as follows:   CO2 oil(4)
  CO2 CO

2where  CO2 denotes the heat transfer coefficient of pure CO2 and  CO2 oil denotes the heattransfer coefficient of the CO2-oil mixture under the same experimental conditions. According to
the above definition, a large  value corresponds to a large deterioration in the heat transfer
coefficient of the fluid as compared to that of pure CO2.
4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Flow Visualization4

Because of the different solubility of CO2 in the three oils tested, the flow patterns of the CO2oil mixtures were different even at the same oil concentration, resulting in differences in the heattransfer coefficient. Fig. 5 shows a comparison of the flow pattern of CO2 with PVE, ECP, and
PAG. Note that the flow pattern of the CO2-PAG mixture is obtained from our previous research(Dang et al. 2008), and the bright strip in the middle is due to the refraction of the incoming lightbecause the refractive index of sapphire glass is much higher than that of air. The comparison
was conducted at three temperatures—30˚C, 35˚C, and 40˚C—to study the change in the flow
pattern at temperatures higher or lower than the pseudocritical temperature, i.e., 34.5 ˚C at apressure of 8 MPa. Fig. 5(a) shows the flow pattern of the CO2-PVE mixture. When the bulk
temperature is lower than the pseudocritical temperature, PVE becomes miscible with CO2, i.e.,the oil film can hardly be identified, and oil droplets are only occasionally observed. In contrast,
Fig. 5(b) shows that a thin oil film can be observed, together with a number of oil droplets
scattered inside the bulk CO2, indicating that the ECP oil is partially miscible with CO2. From
Fig. 5(c), it can be seen that most of the PAG oil adheres to the inner surface of the tube andforms a thick oil film in comparison to that of Fig. 5(b) because of the poor miscibility of PAG
oil with CO2. The tiny strip of oil-rich layer is visible and moves at a slow velocity.
When the inlet temperature of CO2 approaches the pseudocritical temperature, it can be seenfrom Figs. 5(a) and 5(b) that the number of droplets of both PVE and ECP increases because of
the decrease in the solubility of CO2 in the oil. For PVE, the oil film is not easy to identify,
whereas for ECP, the number of oil droplets increases with temperature, and the oil film thickens
and can be identified as a narrow strip flowing along the inner surface. For PAG, the oil film isclearly observed at 35 ºC as shown in Fig. 5(c), but the number of oil droplets decreases,
implying that part of the separated oil flowing with the bulk CO2 adheres to the inner wall,
forming a thicker layer. The main reason for the change in the flow pattern is the drastic changes
in the properties of CO2 within the pseudocritical region, including changes in the CO2 density,
solubility of CO2 in the oil, and viscosity of the oil layer.
When the temperature increases above the pseudocritical temperature, the oil film thickens for
all three lubricants because of the increase in the density ratio of CO2 to oil. In addition, thereduction in the solubility of CO2 leads to an increase in the viscosity and surface tension, bothof which are positive effects for the stabilization of the oil layer. For PVE, both the number of oil
droplets flowing with CO2 and the thickness of the oil layer increase with temperature, implying
a decrease in the miscibility of PVE oil with CO2. In contrast, the number of ECP oil droplets
decreases, showing that more oil droplets attach to the wall surface. For PAG, only an oil filmwith a wavy surface and a few oil droplets can be observed. The differences in the flow patterns
are mainly a result of the different miscibility between the oils and CO2.
The flow visualization of CO2 within the entrained oil and the classification of flow patterns
by Dang et al. (2008) suggest that the dominating flow pattern of CO2-PVE and CO2-ECP is anannular-dispersed flow from a bulk temperature of 30 ºC to 40 ºC. For PAG, the flow patternchanges from an annular-dispersed flow to a wavy flow as the bulk temperature increases.
4.2 Comparison of heat transfer coefficient
The heat transfer coefficients of CO2 with the different oils are compared with that of pureCO2 in Figs. 6–8 using mass flux, pressure, inlet temperature, and oil concentration as
parameters. The predicted values of pure CO2 (Dang and Hihara, 2004) are indicated by solidlines, and the heat transfer coefficients measured at different oil concentrations are plotted using
a horizontal error bar representing the temperature change inside the test section. The oil5concentration is determined by a sampling method. The value in parentheses indicates the oilconcentration measured using a mass flow meter. In comparison to the oil-free condition, theheat transfer coefficient generally decreases with oil entrainment regardless of the oil type, which
is attributed to the formation of an oil film. A high oil concentration normally corresponds to asignificant deterioration in the heat transfer performance.
It can be seen from Fig. 6 that for PAG, the heat transfer coefficient decreases with an increasein the oil concentration at both low and high temperatures. This is caused by the poor miscibilityof PAG oil and CO2. For PVE, the increasing oil concentration does not lead to a remarkabledecrease in the heat transfer coefficient at low temperatures, because the oil film is not present at
low temperature. As the temperature approaches the pseudocritical temperature, the formation ofan oil film leads to a decrease in the heat transfer coefficient, and this decrease becomes moresignificant with an increase in the oil concentration. For ECP, as shown in Fig. 8, the decrease in
the heat transfer coefficient with the oil concentration at low temperatures is not significant,whereas at high temperatures, the decrease in the heat transfer coefficient is proportional to theoil concentration.
Figure 9 shows the deterioration factors for the three oils, the values of which range from 0.1
to 0.62 according to the inlet temperature, mass flux, pressure, and oil type. PAG has the largest
value, which indicates that it has the largest decrease in the heat transfer coefficient. The values
for ECP and PVE are similar at low temperatures. From Fig. 9, it can be seen that thedeterioration factor increases with temperature until the bulk temperature approaches thepseudocritical temperature. This is due to decreases in both the solubility of CO2 within the oiland the CO2 density. Above the pseudocritical temperature, the deterioration factor begins todecrease with temperature. When the inlet temperature of the bulk CO2 is lower than thepseudocritical temperature, the heat transfer coefficient of the CO2-ECP mixture is almost equal
to that of the CO2-PVE mixture, and both are larger than that of the CO2-PAG mixture. The main
reason for this is that it is difficult for the oil film to form given the relatively good miscibility of
CO2 and oil at this temperature, and therefore, the heat resistance of the oil film is small.
However, the situation is slightly different when the inlet temperature of CO2 approaches thepseudocritical temperature; the heat transfer coefficient of the CO2-PVE mixture is the highest
while that of the CO2-PAG mixture is the lowest. When the inlet temperature continues to rise
above the pseudocritical temperature, the heat transfer coefficient of the CO2-ECP mixture is still
lower than that of the CO2-PVE mixture but close to that of the CO2-PAG mixture.
Near the pseudocritical temperature, a drastic deterioration in the heat transfer coefficientcaused by the oil can be observed. Table 3 shows the heat transfer coefficient of the mixture atdifferent values of oil concentration, pressure, and mass flux. Oil with good CO2 solubility has ahigher heat transfer coefficient. The growth of the oil film with high solubility is retarded, andtherefore, the heat resistance of this film is smaller than that of other oils. It is reasonable toconclude that high solubility of the oil can aid in improving the heat transfer performance.
5. CONCLUSIONS
1) The flow patterns of the two-phase fluid for the different oils indicate a remarkable differencein the heat transfer performance.
2) For oils with good solubility with CO2 and an inlet temperature for bulk CO2 lower than thepseudocritical temperature, a sharp deterioration in the heat transfer can be prevented owing to6the difficulty in oil-film formation. When the inlet temperature is above the critical temperature,oils with good solubility form a thin oil film, which slows the deterioration during heat transfer.
3) Visualization experiments indicated that PAG easily forms a thick oil film because of the poor
miscibility of PAG and CO2. ECP is inferior to PVE, but shows better heat transfer performance
than PVG.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors express their gratitude to Idemitsu Kosan Company for providing PAG, PVE andECP oils. The first author received partial financial support by a Grant-in-Aid for Young
Scientists from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
under Grant No. 18860021.
REFERENCES
Dang, C., Hihara, E., 2004. In tube cooling heat transfer of supercritical carbon dioxide Part 1:
Experimental measurement. Int. J. Refrig. 27, 736-747.
Dang, C., Iino, K., Hihara, E., 2007. Effect of lubricating oil on cooling heat transfer ofsupercritical carbon dioxide. Int. J. Refrig. 30, 724-731.
Dang, C., Iino, K., Hihara, E., 2008. Study on two-phase flow pattern of supercritical carbon
dioxide with entrained PAG-type lubricating oil in a gas cooler. Int. J. Refrig. 31, 1265-1272.
Fang, X., Bullard, C.W., Hrnjak, P.S., 2001. Modeling and analysis of gas coolers. ASHRAE
Trans. 107 (1), 4-13.
Gao, L., Honda, T., 2002. Experiments on heat transfer characteristics of heat exchanger for CO2
heat pump system. Proc. Asian Conference on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning 2002, JSRAE,
Kobe, Japan. 12, p. A2-A4.
Hwang, Y., Lee, J., Radermacher, R., 2007. Oil distribution in a transcritical CO2 airconditioning system. Appl. Therm. Eng. 27, 2618-2625.
Kaneko, M., Ikeda, H., Tokiai, T., Yoshii, A., Suto, H., 2006. The development of PAG
refrigeration lubricants for automotive A/C with CO2. Proc. JSAE Symp., Tokyo, Japan, 142159.
Kaneko, M., Ikeda, H., Tokiai, T., Nagao, S., Suto, H., Tamano, M., 2008. The development of
PAG-PVE copolymer (ECP). Proc. Int. Symp. on New Refrigerants and Environmental
Technology 2008, JSRAE, Kobe, Japan, 376-388.
Sawada, K., 2008. Latest development trends of ester-type refrigeration oils. Proc., Int. Symp. on
New Refrigerants and Environmental Technology 2008, JSRAE, Kobe, Japan, 419-432.
Tanaka, H., Nishiwaki, N., Hirata, M., 1967. Turbulent heat transfer to supercritical carbon
dioxide. Proc. JSME Semi-International Symp., Tokyo, 127-134.
Yun, R., Hwang, Y., Radermacher, R., Gas cooling heat transfer and pressure drop
characteristics of CO2/oil mixture in microchannel. Proc. 7th IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference
on Natural Working Fluids at Trondheim, Norway, 503-505.
Zingerli A., Groll E.A., 2000. Influence of refrigeration oil on the heat transfer and pressure dropof supercritical CO2 during in-tube cooling. Proc. 4th IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference on
Natural Working Fluids at Purdue, 269-278.

7

50
40

Tc

30
PVE100Temperature (ºC)

20
Separate10

PAG1000-10
ECP100

Soluble-20-30
Separate
-40
-50
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Oil concentration (wt%)

Figure 1: Two-phase separation temperature

8

90

100

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus

9500mm
Acrylic resin

T

Coppertube
Cooling water

Qwater  M water c pwater Twaterout  Twaterin  [kW ]

CO2

h

QwaterW / m 2 K 
A  TLMTDW 

PT

PT
Thermocouples
T

50mm

Figure 3: Heat transfer test section

10

50mm

25mm

Figure 4: Sight glass

11T = 30 o C

T = 35 o C

T = 40 o C(a) PVE(b) ECP(c) PAG

Figure 5: Flow visualization of CO2 with entrained oil; P = 8 MPa, G = 800 kg m-2s-1, x＝1 wt%

1Heat transfer coefficient（W m -2K -1）

30000
25000
20000
15000
10000

.

5000
0
25

30

35
40
45
Bulk tempera ture（˚C）

1%(0.3%)

2%(0.9%)5055

0%(ca l)Heat transfer coefficient（W m-2 K-1 ）(a) G = 1200 kg m-2s-1, P = 8 MPa

9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
30

35

1%(0.4%)40
45
50
Bulk temperature（˚C）

55

2%(0.7%)0%(cal)(b) G = 800 kg m-2s-1, P = 10 MPa

Figure 6: Heat transfer coefficient of CO2-PAG mixture
160Heat transfer coefficient(Wm -2 K -1 )

30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
20
1%(0.2)

25

30
35
40
45
Bulk tempera ture（˚C）

2%(0.9%)50

3%(1.7%)55
0%(cal)(a) G = 1200 kg m-2s-1, P = 8 MPa

Heat transfer coefficient（Wm -2 K -1 ）

9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
30
1%(0.4%)

35

40
45
50
Bulk tempera ture（˚C）
2%(1.1%)55

3%(1.8%)(b) G = 800 kg m-2s-1, P = 10 MPa

Figure 7: Heat transfer coefficient of CO2-PVE mixture2600%(cal)Heat transfer coefficient（Wm -2 K -1 ）

30000
25000
20000
15000
10000

.

5000
0
20

25

1%(0.5%)

30
35
40
45
Bulk tempera ture（˚C）
2%(1.3%)50

3%(2.1%)55
0%(ca l)-2 -1

Heat transfer coefficient（Wm K ）(a) G = 1200 kg m-2s-1, P = 8 MPa

9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
30
1%(0.5%)

35

40
45
50
55
Bulk temperature（˚C）
2%(1.1%)3%(1.8%)(b) G = 800 kg m-2s-1, P = 10 MPa

Figure 8: Heat transfer coefficient of CO2-ECP mixture

3600%(ca l)

0.7
0.6

φ

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
30

35

40
45
Bulk temperature(℃)
PVE

ECP

50

55

PAG

-2 -1

(a) G = 800 kg m s , P = 10 MPa, x = 2%

0.6
0.5

φ

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
30

35

40
45
Bulk temperature(℃)
PVE

ECP

50

55

PAG

-2 -1

(b) G = 1200 kg m s , P = 10 MPa, x = 2%

Figure 9: Deterioration factor of heat transfer coefficient of CO2 for three oils

4

Table 1: Lubricating oil properties
Oil type

PAG 100

PVE 100

ECP 100

Viscosity at 40 °C

106.5 mm2 s-1

99.2 mm2 s-1

100.5 mm2 s-1

Viscosity at 100 °C

20.47 mm2 s-1

10.5 mm2 s-1

12.63 mm2 s-1

Viscosity index

218

86

120

Thermal conductivity at
20 °C *
Thermal conductivity at
80 °C *

0.156 W m-1 K-1

0.159 W m-1 K-1

0.158 W m-1 K-1

0.145 W m-1 K-1

0.149 W m-1 K-1

0.148 W m-1 K-1

Molecular structure* Provided by Mr. M. Kaneko of Idemitsu Kosan Company through a private communication.

19

Table 2: Experimental parameters

Oil type

PAG, PVE, ECP

Tube I.D. (mm)2

Pressure (MPa)

8–10

Mass flux (kg m-2s-1)

800, 1200

Heat flux (kW m-2)

12

Oil concentration (wt%)

0.5–5

Table 3: Comparison of peak value of heat transfer coefficient of CO2-oil mixtures under
different conditions

G = 800 kg m-2s-1,

G = 1200 kg m-2s-1,

G = 800 kg m-2s-1,

G = 1200 kg m-2s-1,

P = 8 MPa, x = 1%

P = 8 MPa, x = 2%

P = 10 MPa, x = 1%

P = 10 MPa, x = 2%

CO2 + PAG oil

9645 (W m-2K-1)

10739 (W m-2K-1)

4302 (W m-2K-1)

5682 (W m-2K-1)

CO2 + ECP oil

10674 (W m-2K-1)

11944 (W m-2K-1)

4469 (W m-2K-1)

8129 (W m-2K-1)

CO2 + PVE oil

12152 (W m-2K-1)

13287 (W m-2K-1)

5138 (W m-2K-1)

8703 (W m-2K-1)

20