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Ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are commonly used as thermal liquids in solar flat-plate collectors (FPCs). They are utilized as base liquid as well as for improving the stability of nanofluids in FPCs. The objective of the present paper is to introduce a renewable-derived bio glycol for use as base liquid in FPCs. The effect of base ratio (BR) of different glycol products on the performance of a conventional FPC and a nanofluidladen FPC is investigated in this paper to determine its suitability. MATLAB programming was employed for modeling the performance of the FPC operating with copper and cerium oxide nanomaterials. The results show that 20:80 bio glycol/water mixture is capable of enhancing the FPC’s energetic efficiency up to 72.1% which is higher than with either ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. The energy efficiency of a glycol-based nanofluid-filled FPC decreases with the base ratio of all three glycol products. Since bio glycol is a non-toxic and safe product, it can be utilized as a safe and environmentally-friend antifreeze and base liquid in nanofluid-filled FPCs.

A numerical analysis for the determination for turbulent characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer have been developed by employing the eddy diffusivity equation of Van Driest. The properties of Silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) nanofluid with spherical particles in base liquid ethylene glycol (EG) -water (W) mixture of 60:40 ratio is employed for a wide range of concentrations and bulk temperature. A good agreement of the numerical results with the experimental data for properties and heat transfer is observed. A comparison of Copper oxide (CuO), Aluminum dioxide (Al 2 O 3 ) and Silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) nanofluids revealed that SiO 2 attain higher temperature gradients in comparison to CuO nanofluid at the same concentration and temperature.