Biosourced organic materials for latent heat storage: An economic and eco-friendly alternative

Abstract

This work deals with the study of bio-sourced organic Phase change materials (BO-PCM) to replace petroleum-based ones currently in use in an installation coupling a Heat Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system with a module of Thermal Energy Storage (TES). The most adapted ones are selected to reduce their cost and their environmental impact while ensuring a satisfactory operation and an excellent energy efficiency of the building in which they are integrated. The screening step leads to the identification of the BO-PCM criteria of interest, their non-comprehensive listing relying on an accelerated screening based on infrared thermography and the refinement of the results obtained with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Two eutectic mixtures of fatty acids (88% capric acid and 12% palmitic acid) and another one (83% capric acid and 17% myristic acid) are identified as promising economic and eco-friendly alternatives. Presenting crystallization/meting temperatures in the 24.58–26.10 °C and 21.36–24.14 °C range respectively, these 2 BO-PCM could compete with petroleum-based ones as latent heat storage material in the HVAC-TES prototype due to their interesting thermophysical properties, their low-cost, their low hazard, their renewable origin and their energy density in the range of the three petroleum-based PCM currently in use in this prototype.