Microencapsulation of a eutectic PCM using in situ polymerization technique for thermal energy storage

Summary In the present work, microencapsulated phase change material (M‐PCM) has been synthesized with eutectic mixture (75% SA + 25% CA) as core and melamine formaldehyde (MF) as shell using in situ polymerization. Advanced instrumental techniques like field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), particle size analyzer (PSA), thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermal conductivity analyzer (TCi) were used to characterize the synthesized M‐PCM, and impact of effective parameters like pH and agitator speed on the encapsulation process was also elucidated. Results obtained reveal that at the optimized pH (3.2) and agitator speed (1500 rpm) M‐PCM possess smooth surface morphology, spherical in shape with particle size of 10.41 μm. Based on FT‐IR analysis, it was observed that the synthesized M‐PCM was uniformly encapsulated by MF resin with eutectic mixture in the core. The encapsulation process results in the improvement of the thermal stability of eutectic mixture, it increases from 202.5 to 212.3°C, and the encapsulation efficiency of the M‐PCM is found to be 85.3%. The melting point and latent heat of fusion of M‐PCM were found to be 34.5°C and 103.9 kJ/kg, respectively. Microencapsulation of PCM is carried out by in situ polymerization. The melting point of microencapsulated PCMs is 34.5°C. The latent heat of fusion of microencapsulated PCMs is103.9 kJ/kg. The encapsulation efficiency of the microencapsulated PCMs is 85.3%. The thermal stability of eutectic mixture is increased from 202.5°C to 212.3°C. Microencapsulation of Phasechange materials with eutectic mixture (75% SA + 25% CA) as core and melamineformaldehyde (MF) as shell has been carried out using the cost effective method. The melting point and latent heat of fusion of synthesized M‐PCM was found to be 34.5 °C and 103.9 kJ/kg respectively.