Recyclability of inedible animal fat from four farm species as a precursor for phase change materials for low-temperature thermal energy storage applications

Le résumé fourni par la source

Fatty acids are increasingly recognized as promising phase change materials (PCMs) to enhance energy efficiency in applications such as building, solar heating, and air conditioning systems. However, the impact of fat composition from different animal species on PCM composition and thermal performance has not been properly addressed. In this study, non-edible fats from four different animal sources, cow, lamb, chicken, and pig, are assessed as potential fatty acid-based PCM sources. Among others, chicken and lamb fats exhibited 88% and 86% efficiencies when extracting fatty acids (namely palmitic -PA- and stearic acid -SA- mixtures) using hydrolysis-crystallization processes, leading to PA-SA distributions aligned closely with known eutectic compositions for PCMs. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests demonstrated stable melting and solidification temperatures in the range of 48–50 °C across all animal-derived samples, except for pig fat. Melting and solidification enthalpy losses remained below 11% in all samples, suggesting the viability of specific animal fats as sustainable PCM sources. The PCM produced with the new synthesis path gave good thermal cyclability.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.