Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy

Storage in Greenhouse: A Review

Gadhesaria Gauravkumar1 and Desai Chinmay2

Chhotubhai Gopalbhai Patel Institute of Technology, Bardoli, India

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. Latent heat storage in a Phase Change Material (PCM) is

very attractive because of its high storage density with small temperature
swing. It has been demonstrated that, for the development of a latent
heat storage system, the choice of the PCM plays an important role in
addition to heat transfer mechanism in the PCM. The information on
the latent heat storage materials and systems is enormous and published
widely in the literatures. In this paper, we make an effort to gather
the information from the previous works on PCMs used in greenhouses.
Each of the literature cited was represented here with a ”dry matter”
approach, in other words the most useful parts to the scientists working
on the subject were summarized. Such an investigation revealed that
the types of heat exchangers, stores and the amounts of phase change
materials per square meter of greenhouse ground area were dissimilar in
all of the studies.

Keywords: Thermal energy storage, Latent heat storage, Phase change

material, Greenhouse.

1 Introduction
The continuous increase in the level of greenhouse gas emissions and the climb in
fuel prices are the main driving forces behind efforts to more effectively utilize
various sources of renewable energy. In many parts of the world, direct solar
radiation is considered to be one of the most prospective sources of energy. The
scientists all over the world are in search of new and renewable energy sources.
One of the options is to develop energy storage devices, which are as important
as developing new sources of energy. The storage of energy in suitable forms,
which can conventionally be converted into the required form, is a present day
challenge to the technologists [1].
Energy storage not only reduces the mismatch between supply and demand
but also improves the performance and reliability of energy systems and plays
an important role in conserving the energy. It leads to saving of premium fuels
and makes the system more cost effective by reducing the wastage of energy
and capital cost [2]. For example, storage would improve the performance of
a power generation plant by load levelling and higher efficiency would lead to
energy conservation and lesser generation cost. One of prospective techniques
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Desai Chinmay Energy Storage in Greenhouse: A Review

of storing thermal energy is the application of phase change materials (PCMs).

Unfortunately, prior to the large-scale practical application of this technology,
it is necessary to resolve numerous problems at the research and development
stage [3].
Types of energy storage methods are given below [4].

1.1 Mechanical energy storage

Mechanical energy storage systems include gravitational energy storage or pumped

hydropower storage (PHPS), compressed air energy storage (CAES) and fly-
wheels. The PHPS and CAES technologies can be used for large-scale utility
energy storage while flywheels are more suitable for intermediate storage. Stor-
age is carried out when inexpensive off-peak power is available, e.g., at night or
weekends. The storage is discharged when power is needed because of insufficient
supply from the base-load plant.

1.2 Electrical storage

Energy storage through batteries is an option for storing the electrical energy. A
battery is charged, by connecting it to a source of direct electric current and when
it is discharged, the stored chemical energy is converted into electrical energy.
Potential applications of batteries are utilization of off-peak power, load leveling,
and storage of electrical energy generated by wind turbine or photovoltaic plants.
The most common type of storage batteries is the lead acid and Ni –& Cd.

1.3 Thermal energy storage

Thermal energy storage (TES) systems can store heat or cold to be used later
under varying conditions such as temperature, place or power. The main use of
TES is to overcome the mismatch between energy generation and energy use. In
TES systems energy is supplied to a storage system to be used at a later time,
involving three steps: charge, storage and discharge, giving a complete storage
cycle (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. TES complete storage cycle

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Fig. 2. Scheme of classification of different storage systems according to the storage

Storage concepts are active or passive systems (Fig. 2). An active storage
system is characterized by forced convection heat transfer into the storage ma-
terial. The storage material circulates through a heat exchanger, a solar receiver
or a steam generator. Active storage systems can be direct, the heat transfer
fluid (HTF) serving also as storage medium, or indirect systems, where a second
medium is used for storing the heat. Passive storage systems are generally dual
–& medium storage systems, where the HTF passes through the storage only for
charging and discharging a solid material [5].

2 TYPES OF TES TECHNOLOGIES

Thermal energy available in the form of heat or cold can be stored by virtue of
change in internal energy of a material through sensible heat, latent heat, and
thermochemical means [6][7]. Thermal energy can be either stored in the afore-
mentioned means independently or in combination with these storage means.
The three major physical principles by which the heat or cold energy can be
stored is explained in forthcoming sections.

Fig. 3. Different types of thermal storage

2.1 Sensible heat storage

In sensible heat storage (SHS), thermal energy is stored by raising the temper-
ature of a solid or liquid. SHS system utilizes the heat capacity and the change

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in temperature of the material during the process of charging and discharging.

The amount of heat stored depends on the specific heat of the medium, the
temperature change and the amount of storage material [3][8].

SHS systems can be classified on the basis of storage material as liquid media
sensible storage (such as water, oil, molten salt, etc.) or solid media sensible
storage (such as rocks, and metals).

2.2 Latent heat storage

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHS) involves heating a material until it
experiences a phase change, which can be from solid to liquid or from liquid to
gas; when the material reaches its phase change temperature it absorbs a large
amount of heat in order to carry out the transformation, known as the latent
heat of fusion or vaporization depending on the case, and in this manner the
energy is stored.

The following graph further explains the storage mechanism; as a solid ma-
terial is heated its temperature begins to increase in direct proportion to the
received energy until it reaches the melting temperature. Beyond this point, the
energy delivered to the material ceases to raise the temperature, and is used
instead to perform the transition from solid to liquid (latent heat), that is, the
material stores isothermally the thermal energy received; once the transforma-
tion is complete and the material is wholly in the liquid state, the temperature
begins to increase again as it receives a heat input until it reaches the vaporiza-
tion point where the occurred in the first phase change is repeated. The heating
process works the same way for cooling, which means that it is possible to extract
the stored energy as latent heat at a constant temperature (Fig. 4).

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Fig. 4. Temperature increase profile in respect of supplied heat

As can be seen it is impossible to exclusively store latent heat, as to reach the

phase change point the material had to undergo a temperature increase which
represents storage of sensible heat. The storage capacity of an LHS system can
be represented by the following expression [3][8]:

The first term of the equation represents the sensible heat stored by the
material temperature increase from its initial temperature to the phase change
temperature, the second term represents the energy stored by the latent heat of
the material during the phase change, the amount of energy stored depends on
the amount of material, the specific latent heat and the fraction of the material
that has experienced a transformation. If the material is further heated after the
phase change a third term appears in the equation to account again for sensible
heat storage.
Materials used for latent heat thermal energy storage are known as phase
change materials (PCMs). The PCM may undergo solid –& solid, solid –& liquid
and liquid –& gas phase transformations.
i. Solid –& solid latent heat storage
Generally, LHS systems use the latent heat between solid and liquid phases
of the storage medium, whereby the PCM is required to be contained or en-
capsulated within a container to prevent the liquid from leaking; however, the
capsules decrease the energy density of the system and increase the cost of pro-
duction. To overcome these problems the use of the solidsolid phase change of

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certain materials has been proposed as an alternative (SSPCM). Relatively few

SSPCM with suitable transition temperatures and latent heats for thermal stor-
age applications have been identified.
Solid –& solid phase change is quite simple and provides advantages such
as easy handling and cost effectiveness, because as it has been said, the lack
of liquid material eliminates the risk of leakage and hence there is no need for
encapsulation. There has been work focused on developing steel alloy based
SSPCM for high temperature waste heat recovery [9].
Despite the advantages that SSPCM offer, their latent heat of transition
is about one order of magnitude smaller than that of the solid –& liquid PCM,
which is a major drawback that has to be addressed in order to achieve a greater
introduction of this technology. SSPCM metal alloys are expected to be used in
the future in stationary systems, as structural materials with a heat storage
function, because they have a small latent heat per mass unit, but a rather large
per volume unit. This means that they are suitable for energy storage on site
but unsuitable for energy transport.
ii. Liquid –& gas latent heat storage
Transformations from liquid to gas have the highest latent heat of phase
change; however, the enormous changes in the volume of the storage material
associated with the evaporation make the storage complex and highly imprac-
tical; thus the possible use for TES systems is discarded, the reason why the
gaseous state information of many materials is quite limited.
iii. Solid –& liquid latent heat storage
The change from solid to liquid phase is the transformation that has been
most widely studied and used in LHS applications; despite having a smaller
latent heat compared with the liquid –& gas phase change it does not present
such a serious problem regarding volumetric expansion, which is generally in the
order of an increase of 10% or less relative to the original volume [3].
During fusion, the heat is transferred to the PCM in the first instance by
conduction and by natural convection afterwards; this is because the solid re-
gion moves away from the heat transfer surface and the liquid region thickness
increases near the heat transfer surface. Since the liquid PCM thermal conduc-
tivity is lower than that of the solid PCM, the conductive heat transfer becomes
almost negligible as the melting process continues due to the density gradient
that exists in the liquid PCM.
Contrary to the melt, solidification is dominated by conduction; during so-
lidification natural convection exists only in the beginning of the process and as
time passes the effect is negligible compared to the conduction effect [9].
Using solid –& liquid transition PCMs has a number of technical complica-
tions; one of the biggest problems that has contributed to the widespread use of
LHS remains unsatisfactory so far is the unacceptably low thermal conductivity
of the PCMs; besides that, there are other problems such as the complexity of
the container, phase segregation and subcooling, which can be very severe and
completely impede the extraction of the stored energy [9].

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The distinctive feature and main advantage of LHS systems is the isothermal
operation at the phase change temperature of the material, i.e. it is able to deliver
the stored energy at a nearly constant temperature. Another advantage offered
by this type of storage is its compactness; due to that in most materials the
latent heat of fusion is much greater than the specific heat. For example, 80
times more energy is required to melt 1 g of ice (latent heat) than to raise the
temperature of 1 g of water 1◦ C (sensible heat).
Given its characteristics, the phase change materials are chosen over sensible
heat materials primarily for applications where volume and weight are restric-
tions and therefore a high energy density is required or when there is a load
whose power input must be at constant temperature.
Typically, PCMs are placed in long slender tubes tightly packed within a
container. During a storage cycle in a solar application, for example, the heat
collected by the unit is transported by a heat transfer fluid (HTF) through the
narrow spaces between the tubes, melting the PCM. During the extraction cycle
or heat recovery, the circulation of low temperature HTF collects the energy
stored in the PCM and transports it to the thermal load.
Any LHS system must possess at least the three following basic components:
– a substance or energy storage medium, which undergoes a solid to liquid
phase change at the required temperature range where most of the added
heat is stored as latent heat;
– a container for containing the storage medium;
– a heat exchange surface to transfer the energy from the heat source to the
PCM and from the PCM to the load [9].

2.3 Thermochemical energy storage

Thermochemical systems rely on the energy absorbed and released in breaking
and reforming molecular bonds in a completely reversible chemical reaction.
In this case, the heat stored depends on the amount of storage material, the
endothermic heat of reaction, and the extent of conversion [3].

Q = ar m4hr (1)

3 LATENT HEAT STORAGE MATERIALS

Phase change materials (PCM) are ”Latent” heat storage materials. The thermal
energy transfer occurs when a material changes from solid to liquid, or liquid to
solid. This is called a change in state, or ”Phase”. Initially, these solid –& liquid
PCMs perform like conventional storage materials, their temperature rises as
they absorb heat. Unlike conventional (sensible) storage materials, PCM absorbs
and release heat at a nearly constant temperature. The effect of latent heat
storage has two main advantages:
1. It is possible to store large amounts of heat with only small temperature
changes and therefore to have a high storage density. 2. Because the change

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of phase at a constant temperature takes some time to complete, it becomes

possible to smooth temperature variations.
They store 5 –& 14 times more heat per unit volume than sensible storage
materials such as water, masonry, or rock. A large number of PCMs are known
to melt with a heat of fusion in any required range. However, for their em-
ployment as latent heat storage materials these materials must exhibit certain
desirable thermodynamic, kinetic and chemical properties. Moreover, economic
considerations and easy availability of these materials has to be kept in mind.
The PCM to be used in the design of thermal-storage systems should passes
desirable thermophysical, kinetics and chemical properties which are as follows
[3][10]:

3.1 Properties of PCMs

Thermal properties
1. Suitable phase-transition temperature.
2. High latent heat of transition.
3. Good heat transfer.
Selecting a PCM for a particular application, the operating temperature of
the heating or cooling should be matched to the transition temperature of the
PCM. The latent heat should be as high as possible, especially on a volumetric
basis, to minimize the physical size of the heat store. High thermal conductivity
would assist the charging and discharging of the energy storage.

Physical properties
1. Favorable phase equilibrium.
2. High density.
3. Small volume change.
4. Low vapor pressure.
Phase stability during freezing melting would help towards setting heat stor-
age and high density is desirable to allow a smaller size of storage container.
Small volume changes on phase transformation and small vapor pressure at op-
erating temperatures to reduce the containment problem.

Kinetic properties
1. No supercooling.
2. Sufficient crystallization rate.
Supercooling has been a troublesome aspect of PCM development, particu-
larly for salt hydrates. Supercooling of more than a few degrees will interfere
with proper heat extraction from the store, and 5 –& 10 ◦ C supercooling can
prevent it entirely.

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Chemical properties
1. Long-term chemical stability.
2. Compatibility with materials of construction.
3. No toxicity.
4. No fire hazard.
PCM can suffer from degradation by loss of water of hydration, chemical
decomposition or incompatibility with materials of construction. PCMs should
be non –& toxic, nonflammable and non-explosive for safety.

Economics
1. Abundant.
2. Available.
3. Cost effective.
Low cost and large-scale availability of the phase change materials is also
very important.

3.2 Classification of PCMs

A large number of phase change materials (organic, inorganic and eutectic) are
available in any required temperature range. A classification of PCMs is given
in Fig. 5.
There are a large number of organic and inorganic materials, which can be
identified as PCM from the point of view melting temperature and latent heat
of fusion. As no single material can have all the required properties for an ideal
thermal storage media, one has to use the available materials and tries to make
up for the poor physical property by an adequate system design. For example
metallic fins can be used to increase the thermal conductivity of PCMs, super
cooling may be suppressed by introducing a nucleating agent in the storage
material and incongruent melting can be inhibited by use of suitable thickness.

Fig. 5. Classification of PCMs [3]

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4 THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE (TES)

TECHNOLOGIES FOR GREENHOUSE SYSTEMS
WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL (PCM)

Since the 1970s TES systems have proven to be significant tools to increase en-
ergy efficiency in contrast to conventional energy systems. TES systems provide
alternative heating and cooling solutions to decrease consumption of electricity
and fossil fuels and also replace mechanical cooling devices. Greenhouses need a
lot of thermal energy, and a significant portion of its costs is heating. Therefore
they can get major benefits from TES [11].
Phase change materials with high latent heat storage capacities and isother-
mal application opportunities can be used in active or passive greenhouse systems
for storing the solar energy for curing and drying process and plant production.
The alternatives for using PCMs in greenhouses are as follows:

– Active systems
• diurnal storage in combination with heat pumps
• diurnal storage with solar collectors
• peak shaving with seasonal storage systems

– Passive systems
• passive storage with the greenhouse covering material
• passive storage to control temperature of the plants and to protect from
frost.

Depending on the way PCMs are used, different materials with different
phase change temperatures and encapsulation techniques may be needed [11].

Fig. 6. Energy storage unit inside the greenhouse [12]

Kern and Aldrich [12] employed 1650 kg of CaCl2·6H2O in aerosol cans
each weighing 0.74 kg was used to investigate energy storage possibilities both
inside and outside a 36 m2 ground area greenhouse covered with tedlar-coated
fibreglass. PCM cans were placed in a store with 22.86 mm spacing and two
stores containing different amounts of PCM was used, one inside and the other
outside the greenhouse. While the energy storage unit inside the greenhouse
collected warm air from the ridge of the greenhouse during the daytime, the
direction of air flow was reversed for the energy releasing process at night (Fig.
6).

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Hung and Toksoy[13] had designed and constructed a latent heat storage sys-
tem with two different stacking configurations and air baffling as an integrated
part of the greenhouse solar system. Commercial cylindrical storage rods were
used as the primary storage elements. The results showed that the designed latent
storage systems demonstrated significantly higher compact storage capacity than
the rock or water storage. It is also revealed that the ring-baffled storage unit
performed better than the cross –& baffled storage unit. Using phase change ma-
terial, experiments were conducted in a 500 m2 single glazed greenhouse for the
production of rose in France (Fig. 7). The solar heat available inside the green-
house was transferred and stored by recycling the air through an underground
of flat heat exchangers filled with a PCM. The performance of solar greenhouse
compartment with PCM storage was compared with a traditional greenhouse of
identical geometry having the same plantation. The PCM green house achieved
80% savings in propane gas as compared with the traditional green house to
have the same temperature. Latent heat storage material can also be stacked in
racks placed in a greenhouse which will be directly heated by the solar radiation
[14]. In this system the hot air was circulated in the greenhouse through the
storage to increase the rate of charging/discharging of PCM. The stored heat
was utilized during off sunshine hours to maintain the desired temperature of
the green house. Na2SO4·10H2O was used as PCM storage material in the green
house.

Fig. 7. Underground tunnel with PCM Storage [15]

Nishina and Takakura[16] used Na2SO4·10H2O with some additives to pre-

vent phase separation and degradation for heating a greenhouse in Japan. Fig. 8
shows the general view of the experimental set –& up. They concluded that 40
–& 60% of the latent heat potential of the PCM was realized, which indicated
that almost half of the PCM was not used efficiently during the energy exchange
processes. Takakura and Nishina[17] tested polyethylene glycol and CaCl2·6H2O
as PCMs in greenhouse heating for 7.2 m2 ground area. They compared con-
ventional greenhouses with PCM storage type greenhouses. The efficiency of the
greenhouse with PCM storage integrated with solar collector was 59% and able
to maintain 8◦ C inside the greenhouse at night, when the outside temperature
dropped to -0.6◦ C. A microcomputer control system has been developed in order

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to establish more accurate and more sophisticated control for solar greenhouse
systems.

Fig. 8. General view of the phase change energy storage system in green house [16]

In a design and experimentation study by Baille and Boulard[18] and Boulard

et al. [19] CaC12·6H2O melting at 21◦ C was utilized in a greenhouse with 176
m2 ground area, double polycarbonate-cover and forced ventilation (Fig. 9).
Thermostat settings for night and day in February and March were, respectively,
12 and 14, and 22 and 26◦ C. Air velocity in the greenhouse had an order of
magnitude 1 m/s. It was calculated that while 0.260 kW h/m2 energy was stored
during the daytime, 0.360 kW h/m2 was released at night in the greenhouse.
When the outside air temperatures were 3.8 and 6.6 ◦ C, respectively, in February
and March, inside air temperatures for the same periods of 10.9 and 13.5 8C were
obtained. With this method, instead of what would be 7.2 1/m2 fuel requirement,
40% of heating load was supplied and an overall 30% in energy saving was
achieved.

Fig. 9. General view and dimensions of the energy storage unit [15]

Ozturk[20] presented a seasonal thermal energy storage using paraffin wax

as a PCM with the latent heat storage technique was attempted to heat the
greenhouse of 180 m2 floor area. The schematic arrangement of the LHS system
for greenhouse heating is given in Fig. 10. The system consists mainly of five
units: (1) flat plate solar air collectors (as heat collection unit), (2) latent heat
storage (LHS) unit, (3) experimental greenhouse, (4) heat transfer unit and (5)

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data acquisition unit. The external heat collection unit consisted of 27 m2 of

south facing solar air heaters mounted at a 558 tilt angle. The diameter and
the total volume of the steel tank used as the latent heat storage unit were 1.7
m and 11.6 m3, respectively. The LHS unit was filled with 6000 kg of paraffin,
equivalent to 33.33 kg of PCM per square meter of the greenhouse ground surface
area. Energy and exergy analyses were applied in order to evaluate the system
efficiency. The rate of heat transferred in the LHS unit ranged from 1.22 to 2.63
kW, whereas the rate of heat stored in the LHS unit was in the range of 0.652.1
kW. The average daily rate of thermal exergy transferred and stored in the LHS
unit were 111.2 W and 79.9 W, respectively. During the experimental period, it
was found that the average net energy and exergy efficiencies were 40.4% and
4.2%, respectively. The effect of the temperature difference of the heat transfer
fluid at the inlet and outlet of the LHS unit on the computed values of the energy
and exergy efficiency is evaluated during the charging period.

Fig. 10. The arrangement of the heat storage and greenhouse heating system [20]

5 SUMMARY

Energy storage studies for heating greenhouses dates back to the 1980s. Early
studies started with CaC12·6H2O; later on this was followed by Na2SO2·10H2O,
PEG and paraffins. Amounts of PCMs per square meter of greenhouse ground
area and melting temperatures varied from application to application with min-
imum and maximum amounts of 4.84 kg/m2 and 83.3 kg/m2. Most applications
were carried out in either double-covered greenhouses or greenhouses with one or
more layers of thermal screens. However, all studies imply that PCMs could be
used for both energy storage and humidity control in greenhouses, in a way for
energy management, effectively given the right choice and design of the whole
system [15].
PCM applications in greenhouses as summarized in Table 1 were in the pilot
stage for greenhouses with areas between 20 and 500 m2. Energy savings in the
range of 20 –& 51% were achieved in these studies. CaCl2·6H2O was the PCM
preferred for short-term heat storage in the majority of the studies [11].

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Many greenhouses around the world can benefit considerably from TES
systems. These benefits are: more manageable interior temperatures, increased
yields, extended harvests, improved working conditions inside the greenhouse,
energy savings, less reliance on fossil fuels, and CO2 emissions reduction.

6 CONCLUSION

This review paper is focused on the available thermal energy storage technology
in greenhouses with PCMs. Those technologies is very beneficial for the humans
and as well as for the energy conservation.
The achieved sustainable benefits could result in more profitable greenhouse
growing, and increased food production capacities would result in their spread-
ing. Especially in developing countries, greenhouses would relieve the under-
nourished population with crops produced in an economic and more sustainable
manner.
More demonstration greenhouses with TES would help determine better
management strategies. Such examples would also reinforce the benefits observed
in earlier studies. Various locations would necessitate the adaptation of this tech-
nology for different climate conditions. The result would be a proliferation of
greenhouse TES technologies on a wider scale.
The trend in greenhouse development is from self-sufficient greenhouses to
energy-producing greenhouses. With TES systems properly integrated into green-
houses, it will be possible to use greenhouses as energy sources for heating build-
ings near them. This concept is already under development in Denmark, Nether-
lands and Sweden.
In future greenhouses, TES solutions can combine heating-cooling-
dehumidification functions and provide poly-generation possibilities. Further re-
search on the possibility of thermochemical energy storage and better develop-
ment of phase change materials is needed for this option to be widely adopted
in a more cost-effective manner.

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About Authors
Gauravkumar L, Gadhesaria is presently working as an Assis-
tant Professor at Chhotubhai Gopalbhai Patel Institute of Tech-
nology (CGPIT) affiliated to Uka Tarsadia University (UTU),
Surat. He is perusing his Ph.D. on Thermal Energy Storage for
Greenhouse from the Uka Tarsadia University. His areas of inter-
est are FLUID MECHANICS, HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER,
REFRIGERATION, RENEWABLE ENERGY (SOLAR).

Journal of Engineering & Technology (JET) - Volume 1 - Issue 1 & 2 15

Gadhesaria Gaurav Phase Change Materials for Thermal
Desai Chinmay Energy Storage in Greenhouse: A Review

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luctus sed faucibus id, dignissim dictum velit. Morbi vehicula velit
at massa tristique rhoncus.

Journal of Engineering & Technology (JET) - Volume 1 - Issue 1 & 2 16