Experimental investigations on heat content of supercooled sodium acetate trihydrate by a simple heat loss method

Sodium acetate trihydrate is a phase change material that can be used for long term heat storage in solar heating systems because of its relatively high heat of fusion, a melting temperature of 58 °C and its ability to supercool stable. In practical applications sodium acetate trihydrate tend to suffer from phase separation which is the phenomenon where anhydrous salt settles to the bottom over time. This happens especially in supercooled state. The heat released from the crystallization of supercooled sodium acetate trihydrate with phase separation will be lower than the heat released from sodium acetate trihydrate without phase separation. Possible ways of avoiding or reducing the problem of phase separation were investigated. A wide variety of composites of sodium acetate trihydrate with additives including extra water, thickening agents, solid and liquid polymers have been experimentally investigated by a simple heat loss method. The aim was to find compositions of maximum heat released from the crystallization of supercooled sodium acetate trihydrate samples at ambient temperature. It was found that samples of sodium acetate trihydrate with 0.5–2% (wt.%) Carboxy-Methyl Cellulose, 0.3–0.5 % (wt.%) Xanthan Gum or 1–2% (wt.%) of some solid or liquid polymers as additives had significantly higher heat contents compared to samples of sodium acetate trihydrate suffering from phase separation.