Use of polyethylene glycol for the improvement of the cycling stability of bischofite as thermal energy storage material

Bischofite is a by-product of the non-metallic mining industry. It has been evaluated as phase change material in thermal energy storage, but it shows little cycling stability, therefore in this paper the mixture of bischofite with an additive was studied. Since polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a PCM itself, in this paper PEG (with different molecular weights) is used as additive in a PCM (bischofite) to improve its thermal behaviour. Results show that adding 5% PEG 2 000 to bischofite gives a more cycling stable PCM without affecting its melting temperature neither decreasing significantly its heat of fusion. This research shows that mixing an inorganic PCM with an organic additive can be a good option to improve the thermal performance of the PCM. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.