Thermal Stability and Reliability Test of Some Saturated Fatty Acids for Low and Medium Temperature Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

Phase change materials have been overwhelmingly used for thermal energy storage applications. Among organics, fatty acids are an important constituent of latent heat storage. Most of the saturated fatty acid PCMs so far studied are either unary or binary constituents of pure fatty acids. In the present study, ternary blends of saturated fatty acids i.e., capric, lauric, myristic, stearic, and palmitic acids have been developed with different weight proportions. A series of 28 ternary blends viz. CA-LA-MA, CA-LA-PA, CA-LA-SA, CA-MA-PA, CA-MA-SA, and CA-PA-SA were prepared and analyzed with differential scanning calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. DSC analysis revealed that the prepared materials lie in the 15–30 °C temperature range. Also, 300 thermal melt/freeze cycles were conducted which showed ±10% variation in terms of the melting peak for most of the PCMs, with the average latent heat of fusion between 130 and 170 kJ/kg. The TGA analysis showed that most of the PCMs are thermally stable up to 100 °C and useful for medium-low storage applications, and FTIR analysis showed that the materials are chemically stable after repeated thermal cycles. Based on cycle test performances, the developed materials were found to be reliable for long-term use in building and photovoltaic applications.

Development of nano‐enhanced phase change materials using manganese dioxide nanoparticles obtained through green synthesis

“…Thermal reliability is a very essential parameter for the extended performances of PCMs. This ensures that the PCM remains functional for a prolonged period in the thermal energy storage system 21 . Thermal reliability is generally conducted through the thermal cycle test and recorded in the relative percentage difference (RPD).…”

“…This ensures that the PCM remains functional for a prolonged period in the thermal energy storage system. 21 Thermal reliability is generally conducted through the thermal cycle test and recorded in the relative percentage difference (RPD). For this purpose, the initial thermophysical properties are considered as reference and compared with that of final thermophysical properties.…”

A Comprehensive Investigation into the Crystallology, Molecule, and Quantum Chemistry Properties of Two New Hydrous Long-Chain Dibasic Ammonium Salts CnH2n+8N2O6 (n = 35 and 37)

“…Due to their carboxyl group, long-chain saturated fatty acids can undergo an esterification reaction [ 5 , 6 ], acylation reaction [ 7 , 8 ], salt formation reaction [ 9 ], oxidation-reduction reactions [ 10 ], and decarboxylation reactions [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In recent years, in addition to being widely studied in the field of biochemistry, long-chain saturated fatty acids have also drawn much attention in the field of thermodynamics [ 14 , 15 ], especially in the area of phase change energy storage [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], where they are becoming increasingly popular.…”