Experimental Measurements and Thermodynamic Modeling of Melting Temperature of the Binary Systems n-C11H24–n-C14H30, n-C12H26–n-C13H28, n-C12H26–n-C14H30, and n-C13H28–n-C15H32 for Cryogenic Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

In this study, the phase diagrams for the binary systems of n-C11H24–n-C14H30, n-C12H26–n-C13H28, n-C12H26–n-C14H30, and n-C13H28–n-C15H32 were experimentally investigated to employ potential phase change materials (PCMs) for cryogenic applications. Besides, the phase diagrams were theoretically obtained on the basis of the ideal solubility and UNIFAC models, and the UNIQUAC, Wilson, and NRTL models were applied to build correlations between experimental and predicting values. The results show that the compositions of the eutectic points appear at 10 wt % C14 for the C11–C14 system, 17.8 wt % C13 for the C12–C13 system, 18 wt % C14 for the C12–C14 system, and 10 wt % C15 for the C13–C15 system with eutectic temperatures of 246.85, 257.75, 260.45, and 265.55 K, respectively. Moreover, the melting temperatures calculated using the theoretical models are in good agreement with the experimental results. The average relative deviations for the C11–C14 system and C13–C15 systems are merely 0.3814% and 0.3220%, respectively, by using the NRTL model. Simultaneously, the minimum relative deviations for the C12–C13 and C12–C14 binary systems are 0.3649% for the ideal solubility model and 0.4856% for the UNIFAC model. Finally, upon comparing the predicted results of the studied binary systems using the results of the five models, we find that the UNIFAC model provides the most accurate results for the melting temperatures.