COLD THERMAL STORAGE
TES pilot project underway at Norwegian supermarket
Norwegian startup Cartesian AS has delivered its first Thermal Box to a REMA 1000 supermarket in Norway. The cold thermal energy storage system is designed to reduce peak cooling demand by up to 20% and energy use by up to 10%.
The Thermal Box, an integral part of the demonstration project, will be connected to the supermarket’s CO2 refrigeration system. It will store cooling to be used for air conditioning during warm days.
The Thermal Box can be fitted with any suitable phase change material. Water is being used in this installation because of its thermal energy storage capacity, phase transition temperature and low cost.
“We can virtually use any PCM with melting temperature within -20° C to +120° C with our Thermal Box, and integrate it directly into systems using heat transfer fluids such as water, steam, glycol, ammonia, thermal oil or CO2,” said Alexis Sevault, Cartesian founder and chief technology officer. “In this case we used water, but we also have been successfully using bio-based wax (melting at 37° C) in our demo Thermal Box since 2021.”
Sevault says two Thermal Boxes now in production will use two different bio-based waxes as PCM:
• One 400-kWh Thermal Box to be delivered in France in June, combined with a heat pump for collective residential heating
• One 800-kWh Thermal Box to be delivered in Norway in September, also combined with a heat pump, but for heating in a 19,000-square-meter office building
The Thermal Box was developed in partnership with SINTEF Energy Research, Norway’s largest independent research institute. Demonstration project partners include REMA, SINTEF, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Carrier Commercial Refrigeration.
Cartesian, a SINTEF spinoff, will give a presentation on the project at Enerstock 2024. The energy storage conference, which is organized every three years by the IEA Energy Storage Technology Collaboration Program, will be held June 5-7 in Lyon, France.
IN BRIEF
• PCM-enhanced cooling mattresses have been around for years, but the market – or at least the marketing – appears to be heating up. “I Stay in Nearly 50 Hotels a Year – and This Mattress Is the Comfiest I’ve Encountered,” trumpeted a Conde Nast Traveler headline on a review of Casper‘s Snow Cooling Hybrid Mattress. Tempur-Pedic‘s new Pro Breeze mattress (retail price $4,599) drew a mixed review on CNET. Fortune magazine selected Cocoon‘s Chill as the best cooling mattress for under $1,000. The technology is rooted in decades-old NASA-funded research, NASA Spinoff explained in a piece posted earlier this year, “Fixing ‘Thermal Incompatibilities’ in the Bedroom.”
• MIT Technology Review readers have named thermal batteries as a top breakthrough technology for 2024. Rondo Energy, Electrified Thermal Solutions, Brenmiller Energy and Antora Energy are among the companies highlighted by the magazine.
• Rubitherm Technologies, Berlin, has introduced a new salt hydrate PCM. SP40 has a melt range of 41-43° C and a heat storage capacity of 100 kJ/kg.
• Audry Marcos, a product designer at Rubitherm’s office in Egypt, is showcasing her latest project, a breast-milk cooling bag, on the Behance creative network. The PCM-equipped RighTemp bag is designed to keep milk cool “for eight hours on average.” Rubitherm’s Karim Taha says the bags can be customized according to customer needs. “Breast milk can be preserved for up to 12 months if kept frozen,” Taha says. “Some customers ask for a solution to keep it frozen while traveling from A to B, then we fill it with a <-10C PCM. At refrigerator temperature, it can be preserved for up to 24 hours, which is suitable for customers who need it for daily use. In this case we fill it with a >+8C PCM.”
• “Long-durational thermal storage is coming,” Jan Rosenow, director of European programs at the Regulatory Assistance Project, wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. “The world’s largest thermal storage project is underway in Finland with a capacity of 90 GWh, enough to meet the heating demands of a medium-sized city for up to a year. Vantaan Energia Oy‘s solution for the city of Vantaa in the south of Finland is to construct huge underground caverns to store thermal energy, which can then be pumped to homes and business via an existing district heating network when needed. The thermal store will be filled with hot water by a pair of 60-MW electric boilers, powered by renewables when it’s cheap to do so. Construction of the storage facility is expected to start in summer 2024.”
• German startup Nanolope is one of 10 finalists for the 2024 ACHEMA Start-up Award. Nanolope, founded in 2020, is developing shape-stable phase change materials for use in building insulation. The finalists will pitch their technologies on June 12 during the ACHEMA 2024 trade show in Frankfurt. The top prize is worth 15,000 euros.
• PLUSS Advanced Technologies of Gurgaon, India, has introduced a line of cooling jackets for use in high-temperature environments. The BrffPluss consists of an inner vest and an outer jacket. The vest features salt-hydrate packs designed to keep the wearer comfortable for up to four hours. The PCM has a peak melt point of 23° C, and the packs can be recharged in a freezer in 20-30 minutes. The sleeveless jacket is equipped with two battery-powered fans that can extend the cooling effect of the PCM packs by up to four hours. Two models are available. The BrffPluss Moderate, designed for use in 30-40° C conditions, sells for $65. The BrrfPluss Extreme, designed for use in 40-60° C conditions, sells for $81.
• PLUSS also recently introduced a new shipping pallet for the pharmaceutical market. Pluss says its Celsure XL VIP pallets “have precise temperature control with PCM technology and VIP insulation, with sustainability by being reusable, lower costs, and providing operational ease by seamlessly transitioning between air and road transport.”
JOBS
• The University of Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering has an opening for a research fellow in modeling and optimisation of energy systems with thermal energy storage. According to the job description, the researcher will develop models “for simulation and tecno-economic optimization of multi-energy systems with zero-carbon technologies (Heat pumps, PV, Power-to-X) and energy storage.”
• Sunamp Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland, has an opening for a sustainability analyst. The successful candidate “will be a keen, adaptable, climate enthusiast who loves data and the process of using evidence to create real change. Your background will be in a similar role or equivalent and you will be experienced in sustainability, net zero and carbon management processes.”
PATENTS
Golf ball
U.S. patent application 20240108947 (applicant Bridgestone Sports Co. Ltd., Tokyo):
“A golf ball made up of components such as a coating layer, a cover layer, an intermediate layer and a core includes, within such a component, a material that contains a phase-change material. The phase-change material is preferably normal paraffin having a melting point of between 5° C. and 40° C. and is preferably used in the form of microcapsules. This golf ball suppresses changes in the ball temperature itself in response to changes in the ambient air temperature during use of the ball, enabling the optimal properties that have been designed into the ball to be maintained.”
Materials, systems, and methods for CO2 capture and conversion
U.S. patent 11,964,230 (applicant University of Houston System, Houston, Texas):
“A system configured to capture CO2 and able to be washed of the captured CO2 includes a material including an ionic liquid configured to capture CO2 in response to exposure to a gas comprising CO2 and to a thermal energy source and an aerogel holding the ionic liquid therein. The system may also include a washing solution configured to wash the captured CO2 from the material.”
Multi-purpose single-use transporter for biopharmaceutical solutions
U.S. patent application 20240099937 (applicant Smartfreez LDA, Porto Salvo, Portugal):
“This disclosure describes a system for protection of the bottle or carboys during freezing, storage or transport, and thawing. The system described herein is designed to enable high heat transfer rates under certain conditions, thus enabling to freeze or thaw the biopharmaceutical solutions at optimal rates, without disassembling the protective structure. This disclosure describes a system configured to receive a bottle or carboy filled with biopharmaceutical solutions for freezing, transport and thawing. This system comprises five main parts: a lid; a top cover; a multi-shape compatible top holder; a multi-shape compatible bottom holder and a bottom cover. This system has an opening in the bottom below the container that allows air to be driven through the walls of the bottle and through a side vent. The airflow passage in the system, allows the use of the system for freezing (cold air) or thawing (hot air) while providing physical protection.”
More U.S. patents and patent applications:
Recyclable, thermally insulated shipping container (Packaging Technology Group LLC, Fall River, Massachusetts) | Casing for battery pack and battery pack (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., Ningde, China | Phase change cosmetic composition (Amorepacific Corp., Seoul, South Korea) | Roasting system (La Bomba Sprl, Hamme-Mille, Belgium | Thermal energy management kits (Phase Change Energy, Greensboro, N.C.) | Cooling media and insulated cooling system (Equine Ice Right Systems LLC, Sulphur Springs, Texas) | Bedding components including a convoluted foam layer (Dreamwell Ltd., Doraville, Georgia) | Compartmentalized shipping container for temperature control material distribution (American Aerogel Corp., Rochester, N.Y.) | Systems, devices, and methods relating to refrigerated packaging and temperature modulators (JACE Sciences LLC, Dover, Delaware) | Energy-storing temperature control material (Qilu University of Technology, Jinan, China)
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Thermal performance of phase change material based heat exchanger filled with inorganic salt/expanded graphite
• Cooling performance of a Li-ion cylindrical battery pack with liquid circulating pipes embedded in phase change material
• Review on phase change materials for spacecraft avionics thermal management
• Kaolinite-based form-stable phase change materials for thermal energy storage
From Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:
• Solar photovoltaic cooling using Paraffin phase change material: Comprehensive assessment
From Case Studies in Thermal Engineering:
From Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing:
• Composite phase change materials with room-temperature-flexibility
From Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry:
From Buildings:
From Applied Energy Materials:
• Poly(vinyl alcohol)-Based Composite Aerogel Phase-Change Material for Thermal Management
From International Journal of Biological Macromolecules:
From International Journal of Thermal Sciences:
From Energy:
From Energy Reports:
From Emerging Materials Research:
• Preparation and characterization of expanded dickite/decanoic acid phase-change materials
From Green Carbon:
• Pathways to Carbon Neutrality in the Built Environment: Phase Change Materials
From Materials:
From Materials Letters:
• Preparation and characterization of phase change erythritol/expanded graphite@Ag composite materials for thermal energy storage
• Preparation and characterization of eicosane-paraffin/ expanded graphite/ polyurethane as form-stable composite phase change materials with wide phase change temperature range
From Construction and Building Materials:
From Polymer:
From Energy and Buildings:
From Materials Today Sustainability:
From Journal of Cleaner Production:
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 1,800 people have joined a LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. You are invited to join the Phase Change Matters group and connect with PCM and TES experts from around the world.
This month we welcome Martyn Rose, director at Strategies International Consultants, United Kingdom; Susie Mehring, marketing consultant at Cal Marketing Services, New York; Purva Dave, key accounts manager at Arctic Solutions India, Mumbai; Dileep Kumar, associate research fellow in environmental engineering at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; and Surya Anandhamurugan, research scholar at Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, India.
A NEW PHASE
I am retiring as editor of Phase Change Matters. Since its launch in 2014, I have produced more than 250 issues, first for PureTemp LLC and later for the RAL Quality Association PCM. I want to thank PureTemp’s RoxAnne Best and Henry Cousineau for supporting my vision of a newsletter dedicated to the PCM industry, and to all members of the Quality Association for sponsoring the newsletter for the past three years. I also want to thank the hundreds of industry leaders and PCM experts who have subscribed to the newsletter, offered news tips and shared their knowledge of this important technology.
The next issue of Phase Change Matters will be distributed in mid-June. I am pleased to introduce the new editor, Amy Phillips. She is an experienced writer and editor based in Seattle, Washington. Amy is new to the PCM world – just as I was 10 years ago – but has experience as a writer/editor on a variety of technical subjects, such as carbon offsets, smart textiles and PFAS-destruction technologies.
Does your company, agency or university have a job opening, new research, new product or other news you’d like to share? Amy would love to hear from you. Please contact her at phasechangematters@gmail.com.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
This newsletter is made possible through the generous support of the RAL Quality Association PCM and the members listed below. To learn more about the association, including membership benefits, please contact Stefan Thomann, executive director, at pcm@kellencompany.com.
Axiotherm GmbH | B Medical Systems | Croda International Plc. | ISU Chemical Co. Ltd. | RuhrTech | Microtek Laboratories | PCM Technology | PLUSS Advanced Technologies | PureTemp LLC | Rubitherm Technologies GmbH | Sasol Germany GmbH | S.Lab Asia Inc. | Sunamp Ltd. | va-Q-tec AG