Preparation and thermal energy storage studies of CH3COONa·3H2O–KCl composites salt system with enhanced phase change performance

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2016-06, Vol.102, p.708-715
• Main Authors: Li, Xiang, Zhou, Yuan, Nian, Hongen, Zhu, Fayan, Ren, Xiufeng, Dong, Ouyang, Hai, Chunxi, Shen, Yue, Zeng, Jinbo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Al2O3 nanoparticles; CH3COONa·3H2O–KCl composites salt system; Nucleating agent; Phase change material (PCM); Supercooling
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.04.029

[Display omitted] •The phase change temperature range of CH3COONa·3H2O–KCl was between 50°C and 58°C.•The mechanism of phase change temperature was explained by quantum chemical calculations.•Al2O3 nanoparticles and CMC was selected as nucleating agents and thickener.•CH3COONa·3H2O–8%KCl with 1wt.% Al2O3 nanoparticles and 4wt.% CMC show an excellent performance. The phase change performance of the CH3COONa·3H2O–KCl composites salt system with Al2O3 nanoparticles and carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) were investigated in this paper. The CH3COONa·3H2O–KCl composite salt system was prepared by adding KCl (at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10wt.%) to CH3COONa·3H2O, respectively. Al2O3 nanoparticles were proposed as the nucleating agent and CMC was selected as a thickening agent for the CH3COONa·3H2O–8wt.%KCl composites salt system. The results show CH3COONa·3H2O–8wt.%KCl composites salt system with 1wt.% Al2O3 nanoparticles and 4wt.% CMC, in which almost no supercoiling phenomenon occurs. After 50 cycles of the melting–freezing cycle test, aluminum oxide is uniformly dispersed in SAT composites matrix, the latent heat remained constant at about 232.29J/g. The maximum deviations of latent heat of composites CH3COONa·3H2O–8wt.%KCl with 1wt.% Al2O3 nanoparticles and 4wt.% CMC before and after the fifty-run-recycling test are only 3.6%.