Analysis of thermal stability and enthalpy in SSD systems with various thickening agents

Abstract Phase change materials (PCMs) play a vital role in the improvement of efficiency of cold storage air conditioning for demand side management of electrical power. To enhance the thermal stability and the enthalpy of the system, the separation of Sodium Sulfate Decahydrate (SSD) hydrate crystals from their aqueous solution is a significant factor that needs to be addressed. The melt blending technique has been used to explore the effect of various thickening agents, namely Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), Xanthan Gum (XG), and Sodium Alginate (SA) on the thermal stability and enthalpy of the system. The choice of the best thickening agent and its optimum concentration led to the enhancement in the thermal stability and enthalpy of the system. Experimentally, among the three thickeners, CMC proved to be the best thickening agent that remarkably improved the thermal physical properties of the SSD formulation. The paper described the detailed experimental procedures, including melt blending set-up, thermal characterization unit, and cyclic stability test unit. The experimental results showed that the formulation, SSD-CMC at 2 wt% CMC and 50% SSD significant, improved in their thermal physical performance, wherein the enthalpy decreased from 104.23 kJ/kg to 83.71 kJ/kg over fifty cycles, which are the 19.69% of the decay for such a long cycling. It was then concluded that the results would improve the effectiveness of thermal energy storage materials and that phase change materials should be optimized to be used in sustainable and efficient cooling applications and useful for the improvement of the storage capacity of thermal energy storage solutions.