Development of an acetanilide/benzoic acid eutectic phase change material based thermal energy storage unit for a passive water heating system

Abstract

In the present work, two organic phase change materials (PCMs) are used to develop a new eutectic PCM for sharp melting point with high latent heat of fusion. Optimized eutectic can be suitable for a passive water heating system (PWHS). The binary eutectic PCMs consisting of different compositions of acetanilide and benzoic acid are prepared and optimized at a composition of 30:70 by weight percentage. Optimized samples are characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The results of DSC showed that melting temperature and latent heat of the optimized eutectic PCM is found to be 75.56°C and 193.56 J g-1. A negligible change in melting temperature and latent heat of fusion of the optimized eutectic based PCM after 100 accelerated heating and cooling cycles is observed. The prepared eutectic PCM is employed as a thermal energy storage (TES) system for PWHS. The experimental results of a eutectic PCM based TES system for the PWHS show that the use of eutectic helps in enhancing the maximum utility of solar energy during off-shine hours.