Water boils faster thanks to research from MIT in Boston

Of the MIT from Boston it seems that the researchers have found a way to use less energy doing boil water faster. Boiling is a fundamental step for people and industrial installations, where boiling liquids is essential. For the first time, scientists have managed to maximize the yield of two factors essential to cooking. We are talking about the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the critical heat flux (CHF).

When making materials, it is impossible to improve one of the parameters without deteriorating the other, explains Youngsup Song, coordinator of the study.

If there are many bubbles on the surface, it means that cooking is very efficient; but if we have too many bubbles on the surface, they can melt, creating a vapor film on the boiling surface. This same structure at different size scales could be used for different fluids, sizing according to the properties of the fluids.

This creates a vapor film between the surface and the water. Then the heat transfer efficiency is lowered and with it the CHF. Researchers propose a simpler solution: keep the bubbles distributed without the risk of melting and forming a vapor film.

At the micro and nanoscopic level, they created a series of micro-voids on the surface spaced 2 millimeters apart. They keep the bubbles separated by reducing their fusion (increases CHF), they are covered with nanostructures that stimulate boiling (increases HTC). so theboiling is maximum in a minimum time with low energy consumption.

The researchers’ project has so far only been developed in the laboratory. The goal is to study new methods then to apply in real contexts.