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Martins Ribeiro da Silva Lourenço, Rui Fausto
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- Di-Alkyl adipates as new phase change material for low temperature energy storagePublication . Sequeira, Maria Carolina; Nogueira, Bernardo A.; Caetano, Fernando J. P.; Diogo, Herminio; Fareleira, João M. N. A.; Fausto, RuiThis work is a contribution to the thermal characterization of a selected binary system of two di-n-alkyl adipates that can be used as phase change material for thermal energy storage at low temperatures. The construction of the solid–liquid phase diagram using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), complemented with Raman Spectroscopy studies for the system composed by diethyl and dibutyl adipates is presented. The solidus and liquidus equilibrium temperatures were determined by DSC for the pure components and 30 binary mixtures at selected molar compositions were used to construct the corresponding solid–liquid phase diagram. The binary system of diethyl and dibutyl adipates presents eutectic behaviour at low temperatures. The eutectic temperature was found at 240.46 K, and the eutectic composition was determined to occur at the molar fraction xdibutyl = 0.46. Additionally, the system shows a polymorphic transition, characteristic of dibutyl adipate, occurring at ca. 238 K, confirmed by optical microscopy. To the best of our knowledge, no reference to the phase diagram of the present system could be found in the literature. Raman spectroscopy was essential to complement the construction of the phase equilibrium diagram, enabling the identification of the solid and liquid phases of the system. Finally, the liquidus curve of the phase diagram was also successfully predicted using a suitable fitting equation, being the root mean square deviation of the data from the correlation equal to 0.54 K. In addition, this fitting operation enabled a correct prediction of the eutectic composition of the system.
- Seeking new low temperature energy storage systems: n-alkanes as phase change materialsPublication . Sequeira, Maria Carolina; Nogueira, Bernardo A.; Nikitin, Timur; Caetano, Fernando J. P.; Fareleira, João M. N. A.; Fausto , Rui; Diogo, HerminioOver the last decades, the increasing need for energy has been a tremendous challenge. Until now, fossil fuels have been the dominant energy source, however, due to their environmental consequences, renewable energies are the promising solution for the future.1 Nevertheless, the intermittent nature of most renewable energy sources often leads to a discrepancy between the energy produced and its consumption, which highlights the crucial role of energy storage technologies in enhancing clean energy utilization.2 From all energy storage solutions, thermal energy storage (TES) is one of the most promising options, showing substantial energy storage capacity at an acceptable cost.3 For these applications, phase change materials (PCMs) are particularly important, especially for low temperature energy storage systems. Linear alkanes (n-alkanes) have been studied as good candidates for TES applications mainly due to their singular phase transition performance, among others.4 In the present work, it has also been studied the differences due to the odd-even carbon chain number on the solid-liquid equilibrium properties that these materials can present, which is a key aspect crucial to characterize the systems for an upcoming use as PCMs. 4,5 to be used as new PCMs For TES applications, solid-liquid phase equilibrium is determinant to characterize the phase transitions which are more important for the application of these systems, as new PCMs. As an example, in the logistics associated to the transport of perishable consumables, like vaccines and other pharmaceutical products, TES plays an important role. In the present context, this work aims at the characterization of some selected n-alkane binary systems that can be used for energy storage applications at low temperatures, including the construction of the solid-liquid binary phase diagrams at sub-zero temperatures using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), hot stage microscopy (HSM) and Raman spectroscopy. The studied systems composed by odd and even n-alkanes, have showed different solid-liquid equilibrium behaviour. The HSM and Raman spectroscopy were fundamental to obtain the binary phase diagrams, but also to visualize the changes taking place in real time as a function of temperature and often the identification of the different solid and liquid phases exhibited by these systems. This work presents some preliminary phase equilibrium data, which, to the knowledge of the authors, are not available in the literature, and are presently being prepared for publication in an international scientific journal. The presentation will also include comparisons with spread literature data, when available. All these studied systems have promising characteristics for low temperature energy storage. With this work, it is also demonstrated how solid-liquid phase equilibrium studies are a central key to select the most adequate phase change material for a specific TES application.