Three types of paraffinwaxes (HD, O

Three types of paraffin
waxes (HD, OD and ND) were encapsulated through a complex
coacervative of a natural and biodegradable polymer and gum
arabic gelatin mixture.26 Polystyrene (PS),27–30 poly(styrenemethacrylate)
31,32 and poly(styrene-butyl acrylate)33 micro- and
nano-encapsulations of various PCMs were carried out by both
microsuspension and miniemulsion polymerizations. Polymethyl
methacrylate (PMMA) capsules with encapsulated OD,34,35
n-octacosane,8 n-DD36 and HD37 were prepared by miniemulsion
polymerization. However, to the best of our knowledge,most of the
research works have not focused on the influence of the polymer
shell on the thermal properties of the encapsulated paraffin wax.
They calculated % loading of the wax in the capsules using latent
heats (DH) in the units of J/g-capsule compared to those of the
pure wax, assuming that the latent heats of the encapsulated
paraffin wax are the same as those of the pure one. It is reasonable
to evaluate the thermal storage ability based on J/g-capsule in the
industrial field, but we consider that it is ‘‘wrong’’ in the academic
aspect. Even in these past two years, the thermal properties of
encapsulated heat storage materials are still discussed based on
the ‘‘wrong’’ idea with over 70 articles reported in various journals.
In order to develop the encapsulation technology of heat storage
materials, it should be discussed based on DH* in the unit of
J/g-heat storage materials, as described below.