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There are three main alternatives for the improvement of heat transfer in phase change materials (PCM) such as the use of additives, support matrices and customized designs for heat exchangers. The first two alternatives imply incurring additional material costs, as well as a decrease in the specific heat storage capacity by using components that remain solid during the process. The present work therefore sought to study the effect of the use of a coil shell heat exchanger with a square cross section on natural convection during the melting process of hydrogenated palm stearin. Three different sections of the profile called square profile, U-profile, and L-profile and two types of material, copper, and stainless steel, were studied. A test bench was built with a capacity of 5 kg of this PCM, implementing a hot water recirculation system with flow and temperature measurement and including 9 temperature sensors inside the PCM. The melting process was conducted by recirculating water with a temperature of 75° C and a flow rate of 2 L/min. The results show a marked effect of natural convection on the melting process, presenting characteristic profiles for this phenomenon. It was found that the highest temperatures are recorded in the upper part of the PCM and that the heat transfer in the solid material is appreciably low. The results allow us to identify for each profile, the zones in which heat transfer is relatively high because of natural convection and those zones that require the use of additives or support matrices. It is therefore expected to contribute to the design of more efficient and lower commercial cost configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for new phase change materials (PCM) of renewable origin and low cost, as an alternative to the use of paraffin wax, contributes to the environmental resilience of solar thermal energy systems. An important source of PCMs of renewable origin are vegetable oils and fats, especially those with established agro-industrial chains. Globally, palm oil has positioned as an indispensable product in many industrial sectors. One of the main by-products of palm oil refining is palm stearin, which can be hydrogenated to improve its thermal properties. This paper presents the results of the performance of a Solar thermal energy storage system (STESS) located in a Colombian paramo area with an altitude of 3,200 m.a.s.l. The system store heat in 550 kg of Hydrogenated Palm Stearin (HPS), contained in a rectangular vessel, which allow to supply hot water and space heating for a country house. The average ambient temperature is 12°C during the day and 7°C at night. This experimental station implements a robust measurement and control system including 39 PT-100 type temperature sensors, and different actuators connected to a control system based on Arduino and Raspberry Pi devices. This configuration permit also to implement a remote monitoring system. The constructed STESS employs 140 collector tubes, running at a maximum temperature of 95°C. According to the energy load tests during a period of 7 hours of operation, approximately 40.0 MJ were stored as heat in the hydrogenated palm stearin. For the same period, the heat transfer fluid received approximately 170 MJ of energy. In subsequent discharge tests, the heat stored in the HPS allowed the ambient temperature inside the room to be maintained 8°C above the external ambient temperature for up to 8 hours during the night, demonstrating the technical feasibility of using this new PCM from renewable sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palm stearin is the heavy fraction obtained during palm oil refining. It consists mainly of saturated fatty acids and is often an unwanted by-product that reduces the economic efficiency of the processes. Although it is currently used in the manufacture of margarine or industrial vegetable fats, the increase in palm oil production will lead to higher production of palm stearin. The composition, low cost and physicochemical characteristics of palm stearin make it an ideal raw material for obtaining phase change materials for thermal energy storage in solar thermal energy systems. This work explores the esterification of hydrogenated palm stearin (HPS) for obtaining phase change materials with suitable properties for application. The esterification conditions were studied using low and high molecular weight alcohols, like ethanol, butanol and cetyl alcohol, according to Fischer's esterification principles. The esters formation was characterized by attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. For both HPS and products obtained, melting and solidification temperatures and enthalpies, and heat capacity were determined by DSC according to ASTME793-06(2018) and ASTME1269-11(2018). A crude wax was obtained by esterification of the fatty acids present in palm stearin in all cases. Among the esters produced, the one obtained by using cetyl alcohol, which has a melting temperature of 55.9 °C and an enthalpy of fusion of 257.26 kJ/kg, stands out. This novel PCM is presumed to have an optimal performance for heat storage applications in low temperature solar thermal systems (50°C - 90°C), for hot water supply and space conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Solar energy and PCM are used to augment the indoor steam curing process. • Mathematical model of the curing process is developed. • Comparison with experiments confirms the accuracy of the mathematical modelling. • Benefits of the proposed technology are quantitively demonstrated. Steam is used to provide heating and moisture in the curing process for the production of precast concrete (PC) construction elements. The generation of steam requires large amounts of fossil fuels. This study considers the incorporation of solar thermal energy into the steam curing of PC construction elements for reducing the need for fossil fuels and associated CO 2 emissions. For this purpose, the board made of composite phase change material covers the inner surface of the main sun-facing wall in the heating & curing building. The PCM board is heated by sun rays and accumulates thermal energy during the PCM's phase transition, and this energy then is released to the indoor environment of the building, reducing the amount of steam required to maintain a certain level of temperature during the curing process. The energy consumption simulation software, EnergyPlus, and two physical models (built on the scale of 1:3) were used to study the effects of two different PCMs on the thermal performance of such new type of heating & curing buildings. Composite PCMs considered were GH-33 and GH-37 with 33 and 37 °C melting temperatures developed by the research team. The theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement and demonstrate that, compared to the GH-33, GH-37 PCM increases the temperature of the inner surface of the main sun-facing wall and the upper surface temperature of the PC construction element by 3.4 and 1.4 °C, respectively. The heat accumulation and discharge rates also were greater by 62%. For the investigated design of the building and given location in China, the deployment of studied PCM wall panels results in a reduction in the annual energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 58.6 GJ and 5 tons, respectively. The method developed for applying solar energy and selecting PCMs for augmenting steam curing of PC construction elements can be deployed in different geographical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]