Energy-Efficient Heat Storage using Gypsum Board with Fatty Acid Ester as Layered Phase Change Material

The thermal performance of phase change materials (PCMs) for energy savings is important in various fields. Fatty acid waxes are types of organic fatty acid ester PCMs made from under-used and renewable feedstocks. However, they possess one major drawback, namely their phase instability in the liquid state. Therefore, to improve stability during phase transitions, a new method of leakage prevention was developed to form the layer. The thermal properties of the layered PCM gypsum boards were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), phase change, enthalpy, and leakage tests. Finally, a dynamic heat transfer analysis of the layered PCM gypsum board was performed for the evaluation of the peak temperature reduction time lag effects of the prepared specimen. The latent heats of palm wax (PW) and beeswax (BW) were 178.1 and 173.6 J g⁻¹ during heating, 159.7 and 140.9 J g⁻¹, during freezing, respectively. Furthermore, the peak temperatures of the three wax-infused layered PCM gypsum board samples were reduced by 4.6, 6.6 and 0.9 °C, respectively, compared with reference gypsum board.