Phase change materials (PCMs) are widely known for their use in thermal managing and thermal storage applications. However, even when these materials provide sustainable energy they usually are derived from a non-sustainable source: petroleum. This work presents the synthesis of potential biobased PCMs from vegetable oils through a simple amidation reaction. Several oils were reacted with primary alkyl amines of different chain lengths and fatty acid amides (FAAms) with high heats of fusion (up to 140 kJ/kg) were obtained. FTIR, <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>13</sup>C NMR techniques were conducted for the chemical characterization of the products while DSC and TGA were used to assess their thermal properties. Some of the FAAms synthesized exhibited single melting and crystallization transitions over narrow temperature ranges without the need for fractionation. These materials presented higher melting and boiling points as the length of the precursor amine was increased. Latent heats also increased with amine length except in the cases when hexadecylamine was used. Overall, FAAms synthesized from vegetable oils show promise to be used as biobased PCMs. Due to the simplicity of their synthesis reaction and low cost of plant feedstocks these materials could be easily produced industrially, bringing cheap biobased PCMs to the market.

Fatty acid amides derived from vegetable oils for phase change material (PCM) applications

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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