Cost/Performance Analysis of Commercial-Grade Organic Phase-Change Materials for Low-Temperature Heat Storage

Tomáš Hásl, Ivo Jiříček, Michal Jeremiáš, Josef Farták and Michael Pohořelý
Additional contact information
Tomáš Hásl: Department of Power Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Ivo Jiříček: Department of Power Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Michal Jeremiáš: Department of Power Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Josef Farták: Department of Power Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Michael Pohořelý: Department of Power Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic

Energies, 2019, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Alkanes are widely used as phase change materials (PCMs), especially for thermal energy storage (TES), due to their high thermal capacity, stability, availability, and non-corrosiveness. However, the drawbacks of alkanes are low heat conductivity and high cost. Our aim was to explore alternative organic PCMs for TES and to compare such compounds based on the relationship between their performance and cost. For this purpose, we analysed several commercially available products, including long chain alkanes, alcohols, monocarboxylic acid, amines, ethers and esters in high purities. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry (DSC and TGA) were used to measure the melting point, melting enthalpy and thermal stability of these compounds. The materials were classified according to their melting temperature. In order to compare the compounds, we calculated from the measured enthalpies and the price list provided by producers a coefficient that represents factors in both the performance and cost of the material. This method was used to identify the most suitable organic compound for thermal energy storage in each temperature range. As the main result of this work, it has been revealed that various organic compounds can be considered as a vital alternative to the alkanes in temperatures from −10 to 50 °C. On top of that, alcohols and carboxylic acids can cover the temperature range from 50 to 75 °C, which cannot be covered by alkanes.

Keywords: organic phase change materials; latent heat storage; price-performance analysis; melting temperature; melting enthalpy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/5/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/5/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:5-:d:299179

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().