Assessing the Potentiality of Animal Fat Based-Bio Phase Change Materials (PCM) for Building Applications: An Innovative Multipurpose Thermal Investigation

Abstract

In recent years, the implementation of novel solutions aimed at improving thermal energy storage (TES) capability to both energy technologies and building-integrated systems has gained increasing attention. In particular, the application of phase change materials (PCM) is currently gathering worldwide acknowledgment. In this work, the potential of animal fat as a novel bio-based PCM having transition temperature around the ambient temperature is assessed by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and extensive temperature monitoring. Results from the TGA showed the differential degradation of the main components of the animal fat during the heating phase, where three different decomposition steps could be noticed. The thermal monitoring and the DSC analysis demonstrated the promising thermal performance of the material, which showed an interesting double transition range globally associated to a melting enthalpy of about 28.94 kJ kg����1. The obtained results demonstrate the promising thermophysical properties of the animal fat blend, which can be considered as a low-cost, biocompatible PCM, particularly with potential application in passive building envelope applications for a wide range of temperature boundary conditions.

Funding The work partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER)). Acknowledgments Cabeza would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to her research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREA is a certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. Authors from University of Perugia thank Fondazione cassa di Risparmio di Perugia for supporting the investigation about biomaterials within the project SOS CITTÁ 2018.0499.026.