Thermo-physical analysis of natural shellac wax as novel bio-phase change material for thermal energy storage applications

Abstract

The high energy density of latent heat storage makes it more competent than other types of thermal energy storage (TES) systems. Studying thermophysical and rheological properties of phase change material (PCM) is required for effective storage design, simulation, and applications. Bio-based PCM (BPCM) is a renewable and eco-friendly option for commercial paraffin-based PCMs. This study intends to characterize the shellac wax using the conventional and non-conventional approach as novel BPCM. Analysis of Fourier transforms infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) indicates that shellac wax has aliphatic hydrocarbons, carboxylic acid, alcohol, and esters functional group. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows shellac wax has no mass change for operating temperature range (50–85 °C). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis reported enthalpy of melting and crystallization as 148 kJ/kg and 161 kJ/kg, respectively. The crystallization enthalpy measured in the T-history method (THM) is 210.5 kJ/kg. However, DSC analysis of sample undergone 0,100,200 and 300 thermal cycle shows no significant change in thermal properties. Other properties like thermal conductivity, density, specific heat and viscosity are comparable to the present PCM used in storage applications. The overall study outcome that shellac wax is thermally stable and is potential BPCM for the TES application like solar desalination, district heating, waste heat recovery and solar cooking. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd