Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Edible Oils Using Transient Hot Wire Method

Thermal conductivities of three different edible oils, namely sunflower oil, corn oil and olive oil, were measured at temperatures 25, 40, 60, and 80°C. The measurements were carried out using a hot wire probe method. The calibration of the probe was performed using 0.3% agar gel with water and glycerin. In general, thermal conductivities of oils used in this study are found to be decreasing with temperature. The values of thermal conductivity measured are quite near to each other, the highest and the lowest being respectively 0.168 W/m K for sunflower oil at 25°C and 0.152 W/m K for corn oil at 80°C.