Impact of activation energy and cross-diffusion effects on 3D convective rotating nanoliquid flow in a non-Darcy porous medium

PurposeThis study aims to investigate numerically the impact of the three-dimensional convective nanoliquid flow on a rotating frame embedded in the non-Darcy porous medium in the presence of activation energy. The cross-diffusion effects, i.e. Soret and Dufour effects, and heat generation are included in the study. The convective heating condition is applied on the bounding surface.Design/methodology/approachThe control model consisted of a system of partial differential equations (PDE) with boundary constraints. Using suitable similarity transformation, the PDE transformed into an ordinary differential equation and solved numerically by the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method. The obtained results of velocity, temperature and solute concentration characteristics plotted to show the impact of the pertinent parameters. The heat and mass transfer rate and skin friction are also calculated.FindingsIt is found that both Biot numbers enhance the heat and mass distribution inside the boundary layer region. The temperature increases by increasing the Dufour number, while concentration decreases by increasing the Dufour number. The heat transfer is increased up to 8.1% in the presence of activation energy parameter (E). But, mass transfer rate declines up to 16.6% in the presence of E.Practical implicationsThe applications of combined Dufour and Soret effects are in separation of isotopes in mixture of gases, oil reservoirs and binary alloys solidification. The nanofluid with porous medium can be used in chemical engineering, heat exchangers and nuclear reactor.Social implicationsThis study is mainly useful for thermal sciences and chemical engineering.Originality/valueThe uniqueness in this research is the study of the impact of activation energy and cross-diffusion on rotating nanoliquid flow with heat generation and convective heating condition. The obtained results are unique and valuable, and it can be used in various fields of science and technology.