(474b) Development of Phase Change Material for Low Temperature Based Thermal Energy Storage Application

The present work is concerned with development of novel phase change material (PCM) out of fatty acid and paraffin wax. The burgeoning need for energy, along with growing environmental concerns, has hastened the development of renewable energy sources, particularly materials for energy storage. One of the most promising areas of study is the use of PCM for thermal energy storage (TES). The author in this study has developed a novel eutectic mixture out of fatty acid and paraffin wax. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to examine the thermophysical parameters of the generated eutectic mixture. DSC findings showed that the developed eutectic mixture had a congruent melting point, as well as a suitable melting point range and latent heat of fusion, indicating that it can be employed as a PCM for various latent heat thermal energy storage applications. The accelerated thermal cycle test revealed no variation in the thermophysical behavior of the developed eutectic mixture, showing that the developed PCM is thermally stable up to 500 heating/cooling cycles. The FTIR analysis proved its chemical stability over 500 thermal cycles. The effect of varied heating and cooling speeds was also investigated. And the results showed that changing the scanning rate had no effect on the melting point and latent heat of fusion of the produced PCM. Economic analysis suggested that our developed PCM is cheap and readily available in market. And if its mass production is done, its cost can be further reduced by 30-35%. Its application in buildings, photovoltaic systems and therapeutic beds has also been discussed.