Boiling enhancement with environmentally acceptable surfactants

Saturated and subcooled pool boiling of environmentally acceptable surfactant solutions, on a horizontal tube, was investigated experimentally. The kinetics of boiling (bubble nucleation, growth and departure) was investigated by high-speed video recording. Boiling curves for various concentrations were obtained and compared. The results show that the bubble behavior and the heat transfer mechanism for the surfactant solution are quite different from those of pure water. Specific features of boiling of nonionic surfactant solutions were revealed.