Production of carbon foams from calcium lignosulfonate by pyrolysis and their use in the microencapsulation of phase change materials

GLOUANNEC, P.; DELEUZE, H.; DOURGES, M-A.; MAHEO, L.; PALAZZOLO, M. A.

Bordeaux

Simposio; Bordeaux Polymer Conference 2018; 2018

LCPO, Université de Bordeaux

Production of carbon foams from calcium lignosulfonate by pyrolysis and their use in the microencapsulation of phase change materialsMartín PALAZZOLO1,2, Marie-Anne DOURGES1, Anthony MAGUERESSE3, Patrick GLOUANNEC3, Laurent MAHEO3 and Hervé DELEUZE1 1 Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM), UMR-CNRS 5255, 351 Cours de la Libération, F-33405 Talence, France2 Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química (INTEQUI), Universidad Nacional de San Luis, CONICET, 1455 Almirante Brown, D5700HGC, San Luis, Argentina3 Université de Bretagne Sud, Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (IRDL), FRE-CNRS 3744, BP 92116 Rue de Saint-Maudé, F-56321 Lorient, FranceNowadays, there is an increasing interest in pushing forward the shift from a fossil-based economy to a bio-based one owing to both availability and environmental concerns. The lignocellulosic biomass meets the criteria to serve as feedstock for the development of sustainable processes leading to energy, fuels and chemicals under the biorefinery concept. The paper mills are a case example since they allow harnessing almost entirely the starting material. However, the residual lignin-containing streams are usually burnt to provide heat for the pulping plant and further discarded [1].The use of phase change materials (PCMs) for the passive refrigeration of buildings has recently emerged to offer superior thermal energy storage (TES) alternatives. Unfortunately, the containers available currently do not often meet key chemical, physical or kinetic specifications beyond the thermal ones, like for instance, resistance to corrosion, phase segregation, renewability and cost [2].In this work, we aimed to produce carbon foams from lignin by pyrolysis and to further test them in the microencapsulation of PCMs. Calcium lignosulfonate (CaLS) was selected as carbon precursor to study the influence of different variables independently, and subsequently to set the limits where the features of the foams are tailorable. Finally, proof-of-concept experiments were run to test the use of the lignosulfonate-based foams as supporting matrices for the vacuum microencapsulation of PCMs in the attempt of challenging the preparation of state-of-the-art materials dedicated to passive refrigeration. The as-produced CaLS-based foams were found to be efficient containers for this purpose, displaying any appreciable leakage of PCMs. Furthermore, the thermal studies showed that the support does not affect the performance of the PCMs negatively. Considering the process to produce such materials is not only straightforward but also relies on an inexpensive, widely available carbon precursor, it is expected that it serves as a starting point for pilot studies in TES projects [3].References[1]    Galkin, M. V.; Samec, J. S. ChemSusChem 2016, 9, 1544-1558.[2]    Chandel, S.; Agarwal, T. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2017, 67, 581-596.[3]    Palazzolo, M. A.; Dourges, M-A.; Magueresse, A.; Glouannec, P.; Maheo, L.; Deleuze, H. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 2017. DOI 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03900.