Identification of best available thermal energy storage compounds for low-to-moderate temperature storage applications in buildings

Award-winning paper at III International Congress and V National on Sustainable Construction and Eco-Efficient Solutions (CICSE) March 2017Over the last 40 years different thermal energy storage materials have been investigated with the aim of enhancing energy efficiency in buildings, improving systems performance, and increasing the share of renewable energies. However, the main requirements for their efficient implementation are not fully met by most of them. This paper develops a comparative review of thermophysical properties of materials reported in the literature. The results show that the highest volumetric storage capacities for the best available sensible, latent and thermochemical storage materials are 250 MJ/m3, 514 MJ/m3 and 2000 MJ/m3, respectively, corresponding to water, barium hydroxide octahydrate, and magnesium chloride hexahydrate. A group of salt hydrates and inorganic eutectics have been identified as the most promising for the development of competitive thermal storage materials for cooling, heating and comfort applications in the short-term. In the long-term, thermochemical storage materials seem promising. However, additional research efforts are required.Identificación de los mejores compuestos disponibles de almacenamiento de energía térmica para aplicaciones de baja a moderada temperatura en edificación. En los últimos 40 años se han investigado diferentes materiales de almacenamiento térmico con el objetivo de mejorar la eficiencia energética en los edificios, mejorar el rendimiento de sistemas y aumentar el uso de renovables. Sin embargo, la mayoría no cumple los principales requisitos para su eficiente implementación. Este artículo desarrolla una revisión de las propiedades termofísicas de los materiales existentes en la literatura. Los resultados muestran que las mayores capacidades de almacenamiento volumétrico para los mejores materiales de almacenamiento sensible, latente y termoquímico son 250 MJ/m3, 514 MJ/m3 y 2000 MJ/m3, respectivamente, correspondientes a agua, hidróxido de bario octahidratado y cloruro de magnesio hexahidratado. Un conjunto de sales hidratadas y eutécticos han sido identificados como los más prometedores para el desarrollo de materiales competitivos para aplicaciones de enfriamiento, calefacción y confort a corto plazo. A largo plazo, el almacenamiento termoquímico parece prometedor. Sin embargo, investigación adicional es requerida.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional SOE1/P3/P0429EUMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes FPU14/06583Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BES-2015-0703149Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2014-52763-C2-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2017- 83602-C2-2

New database to select phase change materials: chemical nature, properties, and applications

Today, thermal energy storage materials are proposed as a promising solution to increase the energy efficiency in building sector and to reduce the total energy demand because building sector accounts up to 34% of total energy consumption. Under this situation, phase change materials (PCM) are well-considered as materials to store energy allowing high energy densities (between 50 and 600 MJ/cm3). Available materials to be used as PCM for building application in literature were added to a database for to be used with CES Selector software. More than three hundred PCM whit phase change temperatures between −50 °C and 150 °C and considering commercial and non-commercial PCM were listed and classified by their properties and the values available of the materials have been introduced in this database. The main objective of this study is to generate a PCM database and draw on it in order to facilitate the selection of the most suitable PCM depending on the building application.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP/ 2007-2013) under grant agreement no. ENER/FP7/1295983 (MERITS) and under grant agreement no. PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE). Furthermore, the work is partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2011-28269-C03-02 and ENE2011-22722). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research groups GREA (2014 SGR 123) and DIOPMA (2014 SGR 1543)

Advances in the valorization of waste and by-product materials as thermal energy storage (TES) materials

Today, one of the biggest challenges our society must face is the satisfactory supply, dispatchability and management of the energy. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) has been identified as a breakthrough concept in industrial heat recovery applications and development of renewable technologies such as concentrated solar power (CSP) plants or compressed air energy storage (CAES). A wide variety of potential heat storage materials has been identified depending on the implemented TES method: sensible, latent or thermochemical. Although no ideal storage material has been identified, several materials have shown a high potential depending on the mentioned considerations. Despite the amount of studied potential heat storage materials, the determination of new alternatives for next generation technologies is still open. One of the main drawbacks in the development of storage materials is their cost. In this regard, this paper presents the review of waste materials and by-products candidates which use contributes in lowering the total cost of the storage system and the valorization of waste industrial materials have strong environmental and societal benefits such as reducing the landfilled waste amounts, reducing the greenhouse emissions and others. This article reviews different industrial waste materials that have been considered as potential TES materials and have been characterized as such. Asbestos containing wastes, fly ashes, by-products from the salt industry and from the metal industry, wastes from recycling steel process and from copper refining process and dross from the aluminum industry, and municipal wastes (glass and nylon) have been considered. Themophysical properties, characterization and experiences using these candidates are discussed and compared. This review shows that the revalorization of wastes or by-products as TES materials is possible, and that more studies are needed to achieve industrial deployment of the idea

Investigation of resin systems for improved ablative materials Final report, 19 Jun. 1964 - 31 Jul. 1965

Resin systems investigated for improving ablative materials for use with fluorine-containing liquid propellant system