Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

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Journal of Energy Storage

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/est

Phase change materials applied in agricultural greenhouses

Mulan Mu a, b, c, Shanhong Zhang a, c, Sheng Yang c, Yang Wang a, c, *
a
National Innovation Centre for Digital Fishery, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
b
Novel Polymer Technology Section, The Welding Institute, Cambridge CB21 6AL, UK
c
College of Information and Electrical Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The agricultural greenhouse section takes up the largest part of total final energy consumption in agriculture in
Phase change materials the majority of countries. This review focuses on the applications of phase change materials in agricultural
Agricultural greenhouses greenhouses aiming at energy conservation and providing a comfortable environment for crops’ growth and
Heating system
development. The significance of this article is to offer valuable guidance for choosing proper PCMs for agri­
Parametric analysis
Thermo-physical properties
cultural greenhouse applications and how to appropriately use various PCMs for special scenarios in green­
Heat storage houses. The research method covers how to search and determine valuable literature of PCM applications in
greenhouses recently using incorporating various keyword combinations via popular database sources. . The
research content includes the section of results reviews types of PCMs, thermo-physical properties, life cycles of
PCMs, PCMs applications in greenhouses, parametric sensitivity study, PCM performance in greenhouses and
mathematical models, respectively. The main research conclusions have been drawn that (1) Different from PCM
applications in human-occupied buildings, thermal requirement of crop growth between day and night is
adequately considered, the PCM melting temperature should be close to each crop’ individual suitable growing
temperature; (2) the main type of PCM used in greenhouses is paraffin wax and paraffin wax-based composite,
which accounts for 30% of selected literature.

traditional heating systems and thermal energy sources. PCM is a very

1. Introduction
Energy conservation and storage applications have become
extremely significant nowadays due to climate change and global
warming [1]. Energy storage is identified as a key to climate change and
global warming mitigation, energy could be used more effectively
through energy storage to minimize carbon emissions. Phase change
material (PCM) is a main energy conservation and storing technique,
which is the substance that absorbs and releases thermal energy when it
changes phase known as latent heat. It has been successfully applied in
most fields [2], since it has several advantages: (1) storing large amounts
of energy, (2) suitable price/low cost, (3) being environmentally
friendly to use, (4) safe to use, (5) higher energy density than sensible
energy [1,3,4].
Agricultural energy consumption has been majorly come from
greenhouses for most countries [5,6]. Meanwhile, worldwide agricul­
tural greenhouses have increased year by year due to better controlled
crop growing environment and longer harvest period [7]. Thus, it is very
significant to enhance energy efficiency using suitable energy conser­
vation and storage techniques in agricultural greenhouses instead of
good choice. In addition to the aforementioned advantages, it could
naturally and easily absorb sun energy inside greenhouses during the
day, and release the heat in the night to provide a thermal comfortable
environment for crops. Meanwhile, application of PCMs could obviously
reduce the temperature difference between day and night in green­
houses, which could efficiently enhance the crops production.
Previously, some researchers have reviewed PCMs and their appli­
cations [8,9]. Javadi et al. reviewed performance improvement for solar
thermal systems integrated with PCMs [8]. They paid more attention to
those studies on PCM combining with solar thermal applications and
reviewed influences of PCM application on solar thermal system per­
formance. Sharma et al. [9] carried out a review on thermal energy
storing with PCMs and utilizations from a general application point of
view. Nazir et al. [10] summarized current developments in PCMs for
energy storage utilizations, based on PCMs’ thermo-physical properties.
In summary, the abovementioned review articles mainly refer to PCM
applications in residential or commercial buildings.
However, there is almost no review papers on PCM applications used
in agriculture, particularly agricultural greenhouses. There are some
differences from PCM application in buildings, although the major

* Corresponding author at: College of Information and Electrical Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China.
E-mail addresses: wanghongyang1767@gmail.com, andy_yangwang@cau.edu.cn (Y. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2022.104100
Received 20 September 2021; Received in revised form 20 January 2022; Accepted 24 January 2022
Available online 1 February 2022
2352-152X/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Mu et al. Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

Nomenclature QPE difference for energy of the substrate within the control
container and the container with PCM
Abbreviation Qs sensible heat
AGEM agricultural greenhouse energy management Qs,i stored heat from time i to charging time
APTPCMW active-passive triple phase change material wall Qst stored energy
DSC differential scanning calorimetry QT sum thermal energy of latent and sensible heat
HRS heating recovery system Qtot total heat rate
LCA life cycle assessment Qu useful energy
LCCA life cycle accounting Qw total solar radiation incident on the wall
LHS latent heat storage t time
LPHE latent polypropylene heat exchanger T wall temperature
PCM phase change material T1,liquid /T2,liquid first/second condition or condenser outlet/inlet-
PEG polyethylene glycol compressor outlet
SAHLSC solar air heater with latent storage collector T1,solid /T2,solid first/second condition or condenser outlet/inlet-
compressor outlet
Symbols
Tain inlet air temperature
Ag ground area of greenhouse
Taout outlet air temperature
Aw north wall surface
Tc cover temperature
c specific heat of phase change material
Tf final temperature of the PCM
Cp specific heat of air at constant pressure
T fin ch,PCM PCM average temperature for final of the charging process
Cpcmsolid/liquid specific heat of PCM at solid/liquid phase
Ti initial temperature; temperature of node i in PCM; inside
Cpl heat capacity in liquid phase at constant pressure
air temperature of greenhouse
Cp,S specific heat of solid phase at constant pressure
Cps heat capacity in solid phase Tiold previous found temperature of node i
Cpsb heat capacity of substrate T ini ch,PCM PCM average temperature for inlet of SAHLSC inside
Eyear annual energy consumption greenhouse
f1 liquid fraction Tm melting temperature
h sensible enthalpy Tsf,c final substrate temperature of control container
H total enthalpy Tsf,PCM final substrate temperature of container with PCM
hCi,w convective heat transfer coefficient between inside air and Tsi,c initial substrate temperature of control container
wall Tsi,PCM initial substrate temperature of container with PCM
hrp,w heat transfer coefficient due to long wave radiation tT<17 oC 3.515 h/year accounted during which inner greenhouse
temperatures were lower than 17 ◦ C
between plant and wall radiation
Tw interior face wall temperature
k conductivity;thermal conductivity of PCM
αsw absorptivity of the wall to solar radiation
L latent heat of fusion
Δ variation
Lbag length of the perlite bag (1 m)
ΔHL latent heat of PCM
LHpcm PCM latent heat of water vaporization
Δt time step
m mass of PCM
Δti time variation
ṁa air mass flow rate
Δx space increment in phase change material
mPCM mass of PCM
η thermal energy storage effectiveness
ṁpcmsolid/liquid mass flow rate of PCM at solid/liquid phase
ρ density of phase change material
ms mass
vpcm volume in solid state of the PCM
Pm average heat value of 27.5 W/m
λpcm enthalpy in solid state of the PCM
PRH power for the heating system
ρpcm density in solid state of the PCM
QA , absorbed energy
Qch heat rate of charging phase Δtch charging difference in time
QL latent heat Δtdis discharging difference in time.
Qlos lost energy

function of PCM is energy conservation and storage. The difference in
between is mainly that (1) most parts of greenhouses are transparent,
more solar energy could be thus obtained during day, but, compared
with buildings, greenhouses are easier to lose heat during night; (2)
locations of PCM in greenhouses are more flexible than in buildings, e.g.,
hydroponics root zone, positions near the crop etc., residential or
commercial buildings are just restricted, normally PCMs are integrated
in walls, roof; (3) PCM application in greenhouses would consider
thermal requirement of crop growth between day and night, e.g., there
are generally 3 kinds of crops including typical thermophilic crop,
typical crop preferring the cool climate and normal crop, and charac­
teristics of crop growth is not the completely same as the human being.
The only one review paper found on PCMs in greenhouses focused on
technical aspect as a technical note [11], and it just studied 3 groups of
PCMs, i.e., CaCl2∙6H2O, Na2SO4∙10H2O and PEG/paraffin. Meanwhile,
there is almost no studies to review parametric sensitivities of parame­
ters analyzed to justify overall performances of these PCMs applied in
greenhouses.
In order to fill those gaps, this article reviews PCM applications in
agricultural greenhouse in terms of the following aspects: (1) thermo-
physical properties, (2) life cycles of PCMs, (3) application types, (4)
parametric sensitivity study, (5) PCM performance, and (6) mathemat­
ical models.
This review focuses on the applications of PCMs in agricultural
greenhouses aiming at energy conservation and providing a comfortable
environment for crops’ growth and development. Meanwhile, one of the
research gap is concluded by previous articles, i.e., the studies of heating
applications for PCM are more than cooling applications; another

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M. Mu et al. Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

research gap is how to identify the difference PCM applications between

residential, commercial buildings and agricultural greenhouses. This
article will thus discuss why it resulted in those research gaps. In addi­
tion, the novelty and significance of review are intended to summarize
and offer valuable guidance for choosing proper PCMs for agricultural
greenhouse applications and how to properly use various PCMs for
special scenarios in greenhouses, in order to solve the trilemma: low
carbon emission, low cost and safe food production in worldwide agri­
cultural greenhouses.
This article is outlined as follows. First, review methodology is
introduced. Second, several review results for PCMs applied in green­
houses including thermo-physical properties, life cycles of PCMs,
application types, parametric sensitivity study, PCM performance and
mathematical models are demonstrated, respectively. Third, the section
of discussion is presented. Finally, conclusions with key findings and
future works are drawn.

2. Methods

The literature chosen in this work mostly came from the subsequent
databases: Scopus [68], Google Scholar [69], and Web of Science [70].
Major keywords of this review have been chosen to decide the proper
research-based articles including 3 types: “PCM”, “greenhouse”, and
“application”. The subsequent searching strings according to the former
keywords were used in the abovementioned databases – [(“greenhouse”
OR “agricultural greenhouse” OR “solar greenhouse”) AND (“PCM” OR
“Phase Change Material”) AND (“application” OR “use”)]. The Boolean
searching terms OR and AND were used to incorporate various combi­
nations aiming to obtain the proper literature for this review.
Fig. 1(a) and (b) demonstrate the characteristics for those articles
selected including published journals, publishing distribution of major
index journals and publication year statistics. In Fig. 1(a), the most
prevalent journal of publication involved in the abovementioned
research is Solar Energy with 8 articles. Fig. 1(b) illustrates that the
researches on PCMs applications in agricultural greenhouses with 33
articles have been taken into more consideration in the last 5 years, since
the related journal publications have been doubled compared with the
former five years from 2011 to 2015 with 16 articles. Fig. 1(c) indicates
the publication countries statistics for those articles selected in this re­
view article, it could be found that there are 13 publications from China,
Turkey and Tunisia are the countries publishing 4 articles, respectively,
related to PCM applied in greenhouses. In addition, for the aforemen­
tioned published articles, it could be found that (1) Prof. C. Chen from
China published 9 articles, H. Benli (Turkey), M. Lazaar (Tunisia), P.
LIorach-Massana (Spain) have published 2 relevant papers in PCM
applied in greenhouses; (2) the research interactions covers technical,
economic and environmental viewpoints but focusing on PCMs applied
in agricultural greenhouses; (3) the topics classifications covers PCM as
thermal energy storage, solar dryer, integrating with other heating
system, and crop root zone heater etc.; (4) high-frequency keywords
(Fig. 1(d)) mainly include PCM (20 times), greenhouse (17), latent heat
storage (7), heating (5), environment (4).

3. Results

3.1. Types of PCMs

There is a summary table (Table 1) to demonstrate types of PCM used

in agricultural greenhouses. The main categories include organic Fig. 1. Publishing distribution of major index journals (a), publication years
(Methyl Eicosanate, Paraffin wax, fatty acids), inorganic (Cobalt (II) (b), countries (c) and high-frequency (>1) keywords (d) statistics for those
chloride etc.) and eutectic (60% decanoic acid-40% oleic acid mixture selected articles in this work.
[7]). As shown in Table 1, approximately 30% of selected articles have
used paraffin wax or paraffin wax-based composites as PCMs in agri­
cultural greenhouses, which have been used in 16 articles according to
statistics seen from Fig. 2. In addition, CaCl2∙6H2O and PCM composites
are the second most popular PCM types used in greenhouses. Fatty acids

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M. Mu et al. Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

Table 1
Summary for various PCM applications in greenhouses and study.
PCM Type Application Crop Type Method Ref. & Location

40% oleic acid-60% decanoic acid Soilless agriculture greenhouses; roots Zucchini (Cucurbite Pepo) Field measurement Beyhan et al. [7];
mixture, zone temperature control Pepper (Capsicum Adana, Turkey
Oleic acid; Annum)
Two paraffins (Rubitherm-RT2 & RY35)
TH29, PCM 21, PCM 17 Decreasing air temperature in No crops Mathematical model, Java code Najjar and Hasan [3];
greenhouse program Al-Aroub, Palestinian
Authority
Cobalt (II) chloride, As an auto-regulated shading Some delicate plants DSC measurement Marinkovic et al. [12]
protection from overheating
RT12, RT15, RT18HC (Rubitherm Root zone heating systems Soilless crops with perlite Campbell Scientific 107 Massana et al. [13];
products) substrates: tomato (15 – temperature probe thermistors Cabrils, north Barcelona,
25 ◦ C) Spain
Organic PCM: Methyl Eicosanate Greenhouse heating system No crops from mid-Nov. to TRNSYS Naghibi et al. [14]; Essex
Jan. county, Ontario, Canada.
Rubitherm RT18HC; Paraffin Root zone heating systems Hydroponic crops: tomato Life cycle assessment (LCA) and Massana et al. [15];
life cycle accounting (LCCA) Southern Spain: Almeria
Inorganic salt hydrate mixture PCM store in greenhouse; fruit yield Eggplants 38 days of measurements Kuerklue et al. [16];
was almost twice University of Reading, UK
CaCl2×6H2O PCM north wall; Plants Numerical thermal model Berroug et al. [17];
Marrakesh, Morocco
CaCl2×6H2O Solar air collector with PCM-filled n/a Physical experiment Benli and Durmus [18];
tank Elazig, Turkey
Paraffin wax of 6 ton, melting point: Heat greenhouse with 180 m2 floor n/a Physical experiment Oeztuerk [19]; Cukurova
48–60 ◦ C area region, Turkey

Butyl stearate, phase change temperature: Heating the greenhouse Spinach of F1 Model and Physical experiment Li et al. [20]; Beijing,
18 ◦ C China
Paraffin wax Heating the greenhouse Rose, lettuce Model and Physical experiment Taki et al. [21]
n/a Heat greenhouse with 14.8 m2 floor Tomato Physical experiment Bouadila et al. [22];
area Tunisia
Hydrated salt of sodium acetate, melting Heat greenhouse of 20×66 m2 Cucumber EES (engineering equation Yan et al. [23]; Isfahan,
point: 58 ◦ C software) modeling and Iran
Physical experiment
Capsule (AC27), melting point: 27 oC Solar air heater collector using a Tomato crop Physical experiment Kooli et al. [24]; Borj
packed bed (PCM) of spherical Cedria, Tunisia
capsules; 14.8 m2 floor area
Capsule (AC27), melting point: 27 ◦ C Black packed bed (PCM) Tomato crop Physical experiment Bouadila et al. [25]; Borj
Cedria, Tunisia
CaCl2×6H2O Packed bed of spherical capsules Tomato Physical experiment Lazaar et al. [26]; Tunisia
CaCl2×6H2O Two packed beds of PCM Barley, hydroponic Physical experiment Baddadi et al. [27];
Tunisia
Volcanic material Packed-bed in tunnel greenhouse Vegetables and Physical experiment Oeztuerk and
ornamentals Bascetincelik [28];
Cukurova, Turkey
Paraffin wax PCM inside collector pipe, Heat Strawberry, grape Simulation: Matlab Ziapour and Hashtroudi
greenhouse with 180 m2 floor area [29]; north-west of Iran
Salt hydrates, paraffins, polyethylene n/a Tomato Physical experiment Kuerklue [11]
glycol
Paraffin wax New drying technology Red pepper Physical experiment, Azaizia et al. [30]; Borj
mathematical model Cedria, Tunisia
Calcium chloride hexahydrate Ground-source heat pump combined Crop Physical experiment Benli and Durmus [31];
PCM Elazig, Turkey
Na2SO4×10H2O, Na2HPO4×12H2O Inside the greenhouse wall Vegetable crop Physical experiment Zhang et al. [32];
Yangling, China
Paraffin wax drying of chilli chilli Physical experiment Pankaew et al. [33];
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Lauric-myricstic-stearic eutectic mixture Temperature adaptable greenhouse n/a Physical experiment Zhang et al. [34]
Paraffin 100 kg PCM in each tank n/a Physical experiment, CFD Guan et al. [35],
simulation Lanzhou, China
Calcium chloride hexahydrate PCM north wall Plant Mathematical model Kumari et al. [36], New
Delhi, India
Paraffin PCM north wall Tomato Physical experiment Guan et al. [37], Beijing,
China
GH-20 PCM north wall n/a Physical experiment Guan et al. [38], Beijing,
China
Paraffin PCM north wall Vegetable Crop Physical experiment, Ling et al. [39], Beijing,
EnergyPlus China
GH-20: Paraffin wax PCM north wall Plant Physical experiment, Matlab Ling et al. [40], Beijing,
China
GH-20: Paraffin wax PCM north wall n/a Physical experiment Ling et al. [41]
Paraffin Active-passive ventilation north wall Plant Physical experiment, Chen et al. [42],
with PCM mathematical model, Matlab Urumchi, China
PCM composite: GM-37 n/a n/a Physical experiment, Yu et al. [43], Shi
EnergyPlus Jiazhuang, China
(continued on next page)

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M. Mu et al. Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

Table 1 (continued )
PCM Type Application Crop Type Method Ref. & Location

Shape-stabilized mixture: paraffin wax, PCM north wall Vegetable Crop Physical experiment; numerical Ling et al. [44]
graphite, high-density polyethylene, model: Matlab
cement mortar
Inorganic PCM Cooling greenhouse Tomato Physical experiment Zhang et al. [45],
Yangling, China
Paraffin wax n/a n/a Physical experiment Shalaby and Bek [46],
Tanta University, Egypt
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes PCM Heating greenhouse n/a Physical experiment Liu et al. [47]
S19-commercial salt hydrate PCM Thermal energy storage system n/a Trnsys Vadiee and Martin [48],
Stockholm, Sweden
Microencapsulated PCM Thermal energy storage system n/a Physical experiment Wang et al. [49], Beijing,
China
Normal PCMs Thermal storage north wall Plant, Cucumbers Simulation, Mathematical Singh and Tiwari [50],
modeling, experiment Delhi, India
Organic PCMs Heating greenhouse n/a Mathematical modeling Sethi and Sharma [51]
Paraffin wax Greenhouse dryer Banana Numerical model Aumporn et al. [52],
Nakorn Pathom, Thailand
Na2SO4×10H2O Heat storage Jiang and Tie [53],
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,
China

storage density. Higher fusion latent heat could enhance energy storage
density. The higher the latent heat is, the less PCM is needed for
absorbing the same amount of energy. Latent heat storage for PCMs
could store five to fourteen times more heat per unit volume than sen­
sible heat storage [9]. Table 2 summarized the fusion latent heat based
on different PCM types applied in greenhouses. The typical range of
latent heat of fusion for those selected articles is within 84.1 to 250.0
kJ/kg.

3.2.3. Thermal conductivity

Fig. 2. Main PCM types applied in greenhouses based on Table 1 and selected
articles (PCM composite mainly includes fatty acids [34], oleic acid and dec­
anoic acid mixture [7] etc.).
are also applied in PCM, mainly as fatty acids-based PCM composite
[34].
3.2. Thermo-physical properties
Table 2 demonstrates the thermo-physical characteristics for inves­
tigated PCMs, including melting point (phase change temperature),
latent heat of fusion, specific heat, density, thermal conductivity and
energy storage density.
Thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to
conduct heat, the unit is W/mK, which is different from heat transfer
coefficient in W/m2K, i.e., it is the proportionality constant between the
heat flux (in W/m2) and the temperature difference (in K). PCMs used in
greenhouses have low thermal conductivity, as illustrated in Table 2, it
is within the range from 0.16 to 1.09 W/mK. Thus, for the purpose of
improving heat transfer rate, there have been some solutions to over­
come their low thermal conductivity, e.g., extending heat transfer sur­
face area of PCMs, encapsulation, adding conductive phases, using PCM
mixtures, and changing composition etc. [8]. For example, Oztuerk [19]
used 33.33 kg of PCM per m2, which is just in the range of suggested
levels between 4.84 and 83.3 kg/m2 [11], for the greenhouse ground
surface area to enlarge the surface area of heat transfer and then
improve thermal conductivity of PCM; Kooli et al. [24] designed and
applied spherical capsules containing PCM using a black coating and
fastened through a steel shell, in order to increase the heat transfer
surface area and then increase its overall thermal conductivity.

3.2.1. Phase change temperatures (melting point, freezing point)
The most significant properties for PCMs were their melting tem­
peratures [8]. A melting temperature point of PCMs should be close to
the required operation temperature range for the application. In agri­
cultural greenhouses, the melting point should thus be required near
crops’ suitable growing and developing temperature range. There are
mainly three different types of crops in greenhouses: typical thermo­
philic crop (suggested set-points of heating/cooling: 20 ◦ C/32 ◦ C),
typical crop preferring the cool climate (15 ◦ C/20 ◦ C) and normal crop
(22 ◦ C/28 ◦ C) [67]. Table 2 illustrates the melting temperature for
various types of PCMs applied in greenhouses. As could be seen in
Table 2, the range of the melting point lies within 2.1 to 70 ◦ C. The
investigated PCMs with the maximum and minimum melting tempera­
ture are paraffin wax or its based composite.
3.2.2. Latent heat of fusion
The significant for latent heat of fusion is able to obtain energy
3.3. Life cycles of PCMs
Thermo-physical stability is very significant for life cycles of PCMs.
Duplicated melting cycles would finally cause phase segregation. It is
thus suggested to examine PCM thermo-physical stability for applying
duplicated thermal cycle before practical utilization [8]. Tyagi and
Buddhi [54] applied the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to
measure the fusion latent heat and melting point for CaCl2∙6H2O as
PCMs at various cycles, i.e., 1st, 10th, 100th, 1000th cycle. It was found
that just approximately 1–1.5 ◦ C and 4% average variation appeared
within 1000 thermal cycles. Baddadi et al. [27] presented Cristopia
CaCl2∙6H2O nodules as PCMs and concluded that it has a distinct life
span, i.e., more than ten thousands cycles or 27 years. Liorach-Massana
et al. [15] used life cycle accounting (LCCA) and life cycle assessment
(LCA) methods to analyze PCM as the temperature control system for
hydroponic crops root zone (as shown in Fig. 3), compared to traditional
heating system. The experimental results demonstrated that PCM heater

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M. Mu et al. Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100

Table 2
Thermo-physical properties of investigated PCM.
PCM material Melting Heat/enthalpy Specific heat Density Thermal conductivity Density energy Ref.
point in ◦ C of fusion in kJ/ (Liquid/solid) in (Liquid/solid) (Liquid/solid) in W/ storage in MJ/
kg kJ/kgK in kg/m3 mK m3

Capsule (AC27) 27 192.6 2.22/1.42 1710/1530 0.58/1.05 n/a Kooli et al. [24];
Bouadila et al. [25]
CaCl2×6H2O 26–29 190.8 n/a 1562/1802 0.54/1.088 286 Lazaar et al. [26];
Kuerklue [11]
29 187.49 2.13/1.46 1560/180 0.539/1.088 3.182×10-3 Benli and Durmus
[18]
n/a 192.6 2.22/1.42 1710/1530 0.58/1.05 n/a Baddadi et al. [27]
Paraffin wax 48–60 190 n/a n/a n/a n/a Oeztuerk [19]
n/a 188 2.5 860 n/a n/a Ziapour and
Hashtroudi [29]
50–60 173.6 n/a 790/916 0.167/0.346 205 Kuerklue [11];
Azaizia et al. [30]
56–60 214.4 n/a n/a n/a n/a Azaizia et al. [30]
49 260 n/a n/a n/a n/a Pankaew et al.
[33]
n/a 217.2 n/a 900 0.26 n/a Guan et al. [35]
13–33 84.1 n/a 600 0.4 n/a Chen et al. [60]
n/a n/a 16.24 900 0.4 n/a Guan et al. [37]
n/a n/a 1.8–11 900 0.4 n/a Ling et al. [39]
2.1–10.1 n/a n/a 900 0.56 n/a Chen et al. [42]
Paraffin wax mixture n/a n/a n/a 900 0.56 n/a Ling et al. [44]
Two paraffin waxes 56–58; 89 n/a n/a n/a n/a Mu et al. [61]
18–23
Paraffin wax C31–33 68–70 232 n/a 706–770 (82 0.24 n/a Virbhadra et al.
oC)/865–913 (25 [55]
oC)
Paraffin wax C23–24 45–48 170 n/a 769 (70 oC)/912 0.21 n/a Virbhadra et al.
(20 oC) [55]
GH-20: Paraffin wax 7.1–25.9 213.4 n/a n/a n/a n/a Ling et al. [40];
Ling et al. [41]
GH-20 7.4–27.5 95 n/a n/a n/a n/a Guan et al. [38]
GH-37 37.4–43.5 227.5 n/a 1149 0.56 n/a Yu et al. [43]
Calcium chloride 24 140 2.1/1.4 1470 (35 oC) 0.54/1.09 n/a Tyagi and Buddhi
hexahydrate [54]
32–45 190 n/a n/a n/a n/a Benli and Durmus
[31]
Water n/a n/a 4.182 998.2 n/a n/a Ziapour and
Hashtroudi [29]
Na2SO4×10H2O 32.4 250.0 n/a -/1460 -/0.510 272 Kuerklue [11]
PEG (Polyethylene 22–24 150.5 n/a 1100/- 0.16/- 177 Kuerklue [11]
glycol)
3%CF/PEG/SiO2 57.5 142.6 n/a n/a 0.45 n/a Tang et al. [56]
3%Ti4O7/PEG/SiO2 59.8 129.8 n/a n/a 0.45 n/a Liu et al. [57]
3%Fe3O4-graphene/ 50.8 101.2 n/a n/a 0.296 n/a Wang et al. [58]
PCM polymer
Carbon aerogel/ 40.9 110.9 n/a n/a 0.427 n/a Wei et al. [59]
paraffin (87%)
LA-MA-SA+EVT 27.9 n/a n/a n/a 0.694 n/a Zhang et al. [34]
LA-MA-SA+EVTa 28.0 n/a n/a n/a 0.676 n/a Zhang et al. [34]
S19-commercial salt 19 160 n/a 1520 0.43 243 Vadiee and Martin
hydrate PCM [48]

Fig. 3. PCM as heating system for hydroponic crop, e.g., tomato, root zone.

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M. Mu et al.
can reduce the environmental effect and improve farmers’ net benefit
after LCA and LCCA.
3.4. PCM in greenhouses
3.4.1. Application feasibility in greenhouses
Applications of PCMs in agricultural greenhouses mainly include
heating/cooling (e.g., heating system, energy storage (PCMs as north
wall), heat exchanger, integration with solar thermal systems) and
drying crops etc., as shown in Fig. 4.
3.4.2. Application types
Heat storage. Heat storage is a main application in greenhouses. Oez­
tuerk and Bascetincelik [28] designed a packed-bed thermal storage unit
of 6 m x 2 m x 0.6 m using volcanic material as PCM. This unit has been
constructed beneath the soil in center for tunnel greenhouse. Oztuerk
[19] proposed a seasonal latent heat storage (LHS) system with paraffin
wax in greenhouse with the floor area of 180 m2. Mean daily rate for
thermal exergy stored and transferred in LHS system are 79.9 W and
111.2 W, respectively. Mirahmad and Sadrameli [62] carried out a
comparative study on a PCM latent heat storage system modeling and
assess its thermal performance inside an agricultural greenhouse.
Greenhouse heating system. As another major application in agricultural
greenhouse, the heating system with PCMs is able to provide suitable
temperature control. Root zone temperature control via heating system
Fig. 4. PCM application in venlo greenhouse (a) and solar greenhouse (b).
7
Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100
heated by PCMs [13]. PCM could absorb solar energy within day and
release thermal energy during the night in agricultural greenhouse.
Liorach-Massana et al. [15] compared PCMs as the hydroponic crops
(tomato) root zone temperature control system with traditional heating
system.
Building design considering PCMs as greenhouse north wall. Nowadays, the
building design considerations for including PCM, particularly as north
wall in greenhouses, have been studied and used in practical projects e.
g. Chinese Solar Greenhouses. Chen’s lab [38–42,44,60] has studied
PCMs as north wall and integration with solar thermal systems in the
past two decades. In addition, Berroug et al. [17] and Kumari et al. [36]
also studied the impact of PCMs as north wall in greenhouses on the
relative humidity within the greenhouse, and PCM thickness effect on
the heat transfer rate from north wall of PCM to the surrounding air in
greenhouses, respectively. Shi et al. [63] numerically investigated and
optimized PCM heat storage layer and insulation layer’s thickness of
solar greenhouse north wall in Tianjin, China using EnergyPlus.
Crop or food drying in greenhouses. Pankaew et al. [33] reported solar
dryer performance integrated with PCMs to dry chilli in a large-scale
greenhouse. Different scenarios, including the sun dryer using the
PCM, without the PCM and the open solar dryer, have been compared
and evaluated. Azaizia et al. [30] investigated the influence of paraffin
as PCMs on the dry efficiency for red pepper. It was found that relative
humidity inside the dry chamber having PCMs was lower by around
18.6% than surrounding relative humidity in the evening. Virbhadra
et al. [55] carried out the experimental analysis for sun fish dryer using
PCMs. It has been concluded PCMs could effectively prompted the
drying rate for fish. Joshua et al. [64] investigated a mixed mode dryer
with PCM for banana and pineapple. The repayment period is just
around 1.6 years concerning its lifespan of 25 years. It is thus very
attractive and effective solution for food storage.
3.5. Parametric sensitivity study
Parametric sensitivity analysis intends to assess the PCM effects, its
design pattern and its various performance parameters on greenhouse
environment or crop production. Table 3 demonstrates diverse para­
metric analysis study and its corresponding study results for the latest
years. As shown in Table 3, there have been some important PCM pa­
rameters, investigated by previous researchers, such as PCM as north
wall, PCM thickness, different types of PCMs, PCM’s phase change
temperature, thermo-physical properties correlation of PCM.
Some valuable findings should be paid attention, e.g., after investi­
gating the PCM thickness effect on heating greenhouse, it has been found
that 4 cm is the best and practical selection for heating greenhouse in
Marrakesh [17]. Meanwhile, increasing PCM thickness will decrease the
variation for heat transfer rate from north wall of PCM to inside air [36].
Effect of PCM on the greenhouse temperature was mainly taken during
night time: PCM could supply extra temperature difference of 5 oC
during night time [65]; greenhouse air temperature using PCM is
obviously higher than other driers by approximately 7.5 ◦ C for all night
time [30].
3.6. PCM performance in greenhouses
Thermal and energy conservation performance of PCMs and their
integration systems applied in greenhouses have been already investi­
gated by lots of researchers.
Beyhan et al. [7] applied PCM in greenhouse for energy saving up to
47 kW for 28 days. Najjar and Hasan [3] found that the air temperature
difference between maximum and minimum levels could be decreased
during 24 h by 3–5 ◦ C using PCM storage in greenhouse. Massana et al.
[13] concluded a proper phase change (i.e., melting and freezing)
M. Mu et al.
Table 3
Parametric sensitivity analysis of PCM applied in greenhouses.
Classififation Parameter Effects of parameter
PCM’s effects on Effect of PCM as NW Greenhouse air RH under
greenhouse thermal (north wall) in PCM NW is up to 10–14%
environment e.g. RH, greenhouse on RH lower than in traditional
temperature, greenhouse [17].
Effect of PCM on During night time, PCM
greenhouse temperature could supply extra
temperature difference of 5
o
C [65].
Effect of PCM storage on PCM storage unit influenced
air temperature inside air temperature within solar
solar greenhouse during greenhouse during the night
night [30].
Effect of phase change PCMs have a positive effect
materials on greenhouse on greenhouse thermal
indoor thermal environment [40].
environment
PCM itself property’s Effect of PCM thickness 4 cm of PCM thickness is the
effects on heating greenhouse best and practical selection
for heating greenhouse in
Marrakesh [17].
Measured phase change Measured phase change
temperature of PCM temperature of PCM was
affected by chemical
compositions, purity of fatty
acids, measuring method
and thermal analysis
instrument accuracy [34].
Effect of PCM thickness Increasing PCM thickness
on heat transfer rate will decrease the fluctuation
fluctuation for the rate of heat transfer
from PCM north wall to
room air [36].
Effect of PCM Weather condition had an
performance important impact on the
PCM performance in
agricultural greenhouse
applications [40].
Effect of thermos- It has little impact on the
physical properties insulation layer’s
correlation of PCM discharging capacity;
however, it has an important
impact on the air
temperature, charging/
discharging rate and their
capacity [44].
PCM’s effect on plant in Effect of butyl stearate Due to non-toxic and non-
greenhouses (PCM) on plant growth corrosive characteristics, it
would not have an adverse
effect on plant growth [20].
PCM’s effect on drying Effect of paraffin wax on Integration of thermal
performance in drying efficiency of red energy storage using
greenhouses pepper paraffin wax in solar
greenhouse could reduce
drying time of red pepper
[30].
Effect of paraffin wax on Greenhouse air temperature
behaviour of solar with PCM is higher than
greenhouse dryer at other driers by
night time approximately 7.5 oC for all
night time [30].
Effect of PCM on heat PCM effectively increased
availability, heat the drying rate of fish [55].
utilization and drying
kinetics of fish
temperature for a passive heating system of root zone using PCM in
Mediterranean agricultural greenhouses is 15 ◦ C. PCM could be
employed to escalate traditional heating systems’ thermal efficiency,
however, PCM did not provide the substrate with enough heating energy
to maintain it higher than 15 ◦ C. The key point of PCMs application in
heating hydroponics root zone is to enlarge the surfaces between PCMs
and root zone, to enhance the heat transfer rate in between. Bouadila
et al. [22,65] applied a spherical capsules’ packed bed using PCM and
8
Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100
found that temperature variation during night time using PCM has a
temperature difference of 5 oC compared with traditional greenhouse.
The night time obtained 31% of total heating requirement via recovering
heat from solar system.
Yan et al. [23] did optimization of energy efficiency for a waste heat
recovery unit integrated PCM in greenhouses and drew the conclusions
that average energy efficiency could increase by 40% and 33%, second
law efficiency would improve by 263% and 127% for heaters imple­
mented with heat recovery systems (HRS) and PCM HRS, separately. The
payback time for HRS with and without PCM is 3 and 4 months, fuel
savings are 19% and 48%, respectively [23]. Bouadila et al. [65] re­
ported the repayment period for Solar Air Heater with Latent Heat
Storage Collector (SAHLSC) has been around 5 years when the system
just operated 3 months each year. It could reduce carbon emissions
around 1% for total Tunisian greenhouse emissions. Baddadi et al. [27]
proposed the repayment period of solar air heater with PCM latent
storage energy (SAHL) is 6 years.
Kooli et al. [24] found that, for cold season, e.g., December in
Tunisia, the recovered heat during night time for the solar system using a
packed bed (PCM) is around 440 W (per volume of collector) within the
greenhouse with shutter. Lazaar et al. [26] proposed that LPHE (Latent
Polypropylene Heat Exchanger) with PCM could ensure to increase 4 ◦ C
at night inside greenhouse. Baddadi et al. [27] reported that, after using
PCM, the greenhouse temperature rised by higher than 6 ◦ C during the
night time, the nighttime temperature changed within 17 to 20 ◦ C.
Oeztuerk and Bascetincelik [28] concluded that mean daily rates for
heating energy and exergy stored/recovered within/from thermal stor­
age system were 1242 W/601.3 W and 36.33 W/20.9 W, respectively,
during charging/discharging periods. Within charging periods, net en­
ergy and exergy efficiencies were 39.7% and 2.03%, respectively.
Kuerklue [11] proposed that the range of PCM amounts per unit area
applied in greenhouses varied from 4.84 to 83.3 kg/m2. Azaizia et al.
[30] investigated paraffin wax as PCM effect on red pepper drying ef­
ficiency, the results of experiment illustrated greenhouse air tempera­
ture using PCM is bigger than other driers by approximately 7.5 ◦ C for all
night time. The moisture content is decreased by 95% in 30 h for dryer
with PCM, in 55 h for the case without PCM. Zhang et al. [32] did the
physical experiment and found that the temperature fluctuations range
within the phase change wall of greenhouse is less than traditional
greenhouse by around 3.5 ◦ C; between 18:30 and 8 am next morning,
the maximum indoor temperature can be escalated by 5.8 ◦ C, the mean
indoor temperature can be rised by 1.9 ◦ C. Pankaew et al. [33] reported
that the exergy efficiency of solar dryer for chilli in greenhouse inte­
grated with/without PCM thermal storage was 13.1%/11.4%.
Bazgaou et al. [4] found Greenhouse microclimate with the rock-bed
heater could enhance during night and had a very constructive effect on
fruit quality and increased yield by around 29%. Kumari et al. [36]
concluded the greenhouse temperature is higher within night than sur­
rounding air temperature because of PCM filled with north wall. Guan
et al. [37] reported the charge and discharge level for PCM north wall is
4.6–8 times higher than normal north wall material. Ling et al. [41] that
the optimal operating situation for active-passive triple phase change
material wall (APTPCMW) was as follows: (1) a gap between air un­
derpasses is 0.4 m; (2) the flow direction of heated air within underpass
is downward; (3) the supplying air speed is 0.26 m/s; (4) supplying air
temperature is 60 ◦ C. Chen et al. [42] found that, compared with con­
ventional north wall, the suggested active-passive ventilating north wall
using PCM could make the stem diameter, fruit yield and plant height
raised by 25%, 28% and 30%, separately. Yu et al. [43] reported the
mean monthly temperature for major sun-facing wall surface and its
mean temperature could be raised by 1.3 and 2.7 ◦ C, compared to major
sun-facing building wall without PCM.
3.7. Mathematical models
Several mathematical models for PCMs’ heat transfer and thermal
M. Mu et al.
energy characteristics used in agricultural greenhouses were studied in
recent literature. Some mathematical models for typical PCM and its
integration with thermal system will be introduced in this section. The
main models for PCMs refer to PCM’s thermal energy storage effec­
tiveness, 1 D transient heat for PCM, and thermal model of PCM inte­
grated with other thermal systems.
(a) Thermal energy storage effectiveness [7]
Heating energy including sensible and latent heat is stored by PCMs.
[ ( )]
QT = QL + QS = mΔHL + mCps (Tm − Ti ) + mCpl Tf − Tm (1)
Where QT means a sum thermal energy of latent QL and sensible Qs
heat, m means PCM’s mass, ΔHL presents PCM latent heat, Cps/ Cpl
means PCM’s heat capacity in solid/liquid phase, Tm presents PCM’s
melting temperature, Ti/Tf means PCM’s initial/final temperature.
Seen from Eq.(1), QT increases with m, ΔHL , Cps, Cpl and Tf, however,
QT decreases with increasing Ti. Thus, in order to improve thermal en­
ergy of PCM, it should try to enhance m, ΔHL , Cps, Cpl and Tf if possible.
This model could be beneficial to determining how to improve thermal
energy storage of PCM.
Similarly, the storing energy calculation for substrate using PCM
seems like a part of Eq.(1),
( ) ( )
QPE = ms Cpsb Tsf ,PCM − Tsi,PCM − ms Cpsb Tsf ,c − Tsi,c (2)
Where QPE is a difference for the substrate energy within a control
container and a container using PCM, ms means PCM mass, Cpsb presents
substrate heat capacity, Tsf,PCM means final substrate container tem­
perature using PCM, Tsf,c is a final substrate control container temper­
ature, Tsi,PCM is an initial substrate container temperature using PCM,
Tsi,c is an initial substrate control container temperature Eqs. (2)–(14).
The heating energy storage effectiveness η is defined by the following
equation:
QPE
η= (3)
QT
Thus, the heating energy storage effectiveness is an increasing
function as QPE and a decreasing function as QT.
(a) Zivkovic and Fujii [66] proposed 1 D transient heat equation for
PCM based on enthalpy method, as illustrated below.
H = h + Lf 1 (4)
∫ ground area of greenhouse, Ti is inside air temperature of greenhouse,
Where h = Tm TcdT, Tm is the melting temperature of PCM, H
means the total enthalpy, h stands for the sensible enthalpy, L means
fusion latent heat, f1 presents liquid fraction.
( )
kΔt kΔt kΔt
− T + 1 + 2 T − T = Tiold (5)
i− 1
ρcΔx2 ρcΔx2 i ρcΔx2 i+1
Where k is conductivity, Δt is time step, ρ is density of phase change
material, c means PCM’s specific heat, Δx stands for space increment in
PCM, Ti means temperature of node i in PCM, Tiold is the previous found
temperature of node i.
Corresponding to Eq. (1) total heat covering sensible and latent heat,
Eq. (4) is splitting the total enthalpy H into sensible and latent heat
parts. Even though this model refers to 1 D transient heat equation for
PCM based on enthalpy method, however, Eq. (5) seems like a little
complex. On the contrary, its advantage is that Eq. (5) is as a function of
time and obviously to understand the relationship between each node
temperature in PCM and the time.
(a) The PCM volume required for the physical experiment was
defined by [13]
9
Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100
PRH
L t
λpcm bag
vpcm = (6)
ρpcm
Where vpcm , λpcm , ρpcm present the volume (m3), enthalpy (kJ/kg) and
density (kg/m3) in solid phase for PCM, separately. PRH involves the
power for the heater which may deliver to the perlite bag (W/m), and
was assumed as 20 W/m for traditional root zone heating system. Lbag
means the length of perlite bag (1 m). t is the equivalent time (h), which
means a traditional heating system might operate in cooling seasons
inside the greenhouse.
The advantage of this model is that it could be found that PCM
volume increases the power for the heater, length of perlite bag and
lasting time if doing physical experiment for PCM applied in green­
houses.
(a) Annual energy consumption Eyear for a studied heater with PCM
[15] was defined by
Eyear = tT<17 oC (s)Lcrop (m)Pm (W / m) (7)
Where Lcrop is 7700 m to be heated, Pm is mean heat value of 27.5 W/
m, tT<17 oC is 3.515 h/year have been accounted within which inner
greenhouse temperatures have been less than 17 ◦ C.
As illustrated by Eq.(7), annual energy consumption of proposed
PCM is as function of the length of crop with PCM heater, mean heat
level and time of set point for indoor temperature of studied greenhouse.
(a) Berroug et al. [17] investigated PCM as greenhouse north wall
and analyzed its boundary conditions for north wall, i.e., the
interior surface (x = 0) of the PCM north wall:
Aw Aw ( ) Aw
αsw Qw + hCi,w (Ti − Tw ) + hrp,w Tp − Tw + hrc,w (Tc − Tw )
Ag Ag Ag
(8)
∂ T Aw
=− k
∂x x=0 Ag
Where αsw is the wall absorptivity to sun radiation, Qw is total sun
radiation incident on the wall, hCi,w is the coefficient of convective heat
transfer between inside air and wall, Aw means north wall surface, Ag is
Tw is interior face wall temperature, hrp,w is heat transfer coefficient
because of the long wave radiation between plant and wall radiation,
hrc,w is heat transfer coefficient from long wave radiation between cover
and wall radiation Tc is cover temperature, k means PCM’s thermal
conductivity, T stands for wall temperature.
PCM as greenhouse north wall requires to obtain as more as possible
sun radiation incident during daytime, there are three heat transfer
processes including cover to wall, wall to plan and wall to inside air.
(a) Energy balance with charge and discharge phases of a new Solar
Air Heater with Latent Heat Storage Collector (SAHLSC) [65] is
illustrated by:
QA = Qu + Qst + Qlos (9)
Where QA , Qu , Qst and Qlos present the absorbed, useful, stored and
lost energies, separately.
The stored heat flux during charging and discharging phases is
M. Mu et al.
defined by:
[ ( ) (
Qch = mPCM Cp,S Tm − T ini + mPCM L + mPCM Cp,L T fin
/
ch,PCM
Δtch
[ ( ) (
Qdis = mPCM Cp,L Tm − T fin
/
dis,PCM + mPCM L + mPCM Cp,S T in
Δtdis
Where Qch is heat rate of charging phase, mPCM is mass of PCM, Cp,S
means specific heat of solid phase at constant pressure, Tm means
melting temperature, Tini ch,PCM is PCM average temperature for inlet of
SAHLSC inside greenhouse, L is latent heat, Cp,L is specific heat of liquid
phase at constant pressure, Tfin ch,PCM is PCM average temperature for
final of the charging process, Δtch is charging difference in time,
T fin dis,PCM is PCM average temperature for final of the discharging pro­
cess, Δtdis is discharging difference in time.
(a) The PCM recovering heat in total during charging period can be
defined by
∫ch ∑
ch
Qtot = dQs,i = ΔQs,i
i
i
( )
ΔQs,i = ṁa Cp Tain − Taout Δti
Where Qtot is total heat rate, Qs,i is stored heat from time i to charging
time, Δ is variation, ṁa is air mass flow rate, Cp means air specific heat at
constant pressure, Δti is time variation, Tain is inlet temperature, Taout is
outlet temperature.
Heat stored by PCM (Q̇PCM ) is calculated by [31]:
( )
Q̇PCM = ṁpcmsolid Cpcmsolid T2,solid − T1,solid + LHpcm ṁpcm
( ) (14)
+ ṁpcmliquid Cpcmliquid T1,liquid − T2,liquid
Where ṁpcmsolid/liquid is mass flow rate of PCM at solid/liquid phase,
Cpcmsolid/liquid means PCM specific heat at solid/liquid phase, T1,solid /T2,solid
is the first/second condition or condenser outlet/inlet-compressor
outlet, LHpcm is PCM latent heat of water vaporization, T1,liquid /T2,liquid
is the first/second condition or condenser outlet/inlet’s compressor
outlet.
Based on the aforementioned review of mathematical models for
PCMs’ heat transfer and thermal energy characteristics used in agri­
cultural greenhouses, it is found that (1) increasing the mass, heat ca­
pacity or temperature difference between melting point and initial/final
point of PCM could improve its thermal storage effectiveness; (2)
enthalpy of PCM is made up of sensible and latent enthalpy; (3) the
integration of PCM with other energy system could improve energy ef­
ficiency of total energy system.
4. Discussions
PCMs have been used in heating agricultural greenhouses since
1980s [11]. There are several advantage: energy storage, suitable price
and lower cost, being environmentally friendly to use etc. However,
PCMs also have some disadvantages, e.g., low thermal conductivity,
phase separation: chemical instability, temperature fluctuation (but
could be used in broad temperature tolerance range, e.g., crops) for a
few PCMs (e.g. Calcium chloride hexahydrate with melting point of
32–45 ◦ C), application in agricultural greenhouses not commercialized.
Particularly, material stability including chemical, physical and thermal
stability should be paid more attention.
Journal of Energy Storage 49 (2022) 104100
There is the research gap concluded by previous articles, i.e., the
)] studies of heating applications for PCM are more than cooling applica­
− Tm
ch,PCM
tions. That is because experiments for the former are much simpler and
easier than the latter; data for PCMs with high melting temperature is
(10) more obtainable.
)] According to those selected articles of this review, thermal model
dis,PCM − Tm limitations of PCMs involved mainly should be noticed. Berroug et al.
[17] that inside air temperature and relative humidity are uniform;
(11) enclosed air and cover’s heat capacity is ignored; climate data are
considered as hourly invariable; there is no radiant heat absorbed by
ground, where vegetation has been completely covered: heat and hu­
midity exchange between ground and indoor air are ignored; there has
been no condensation inside greenhouse; there has been no water-stress
situation within plants. PCM is isothopic and homogeneous; conduction
is only heat transfer (one-dimensional) mode, convection is ignored [17,
66]. Guan et al. [35] assumed that, for the discharging process, con­
vection effects inside the PCM could be ignored. In order to save
calculating time and make the convergence easier, proposed PCM’s
specific heat capacity was assumed as variable solid material.
Meanwhile, the PCM limitations were summarized as follows.
Charging period of PCM is restrained by solar energy available period
[26]. During the long-term utilization period for PCMs, there is still
super-cooling and phase separation phenomena, meanwhile, with the
(12)
extension of using time, the latent heat value of phase change decreased
compared to the virgin material [32].
In addition, some research teams have studied on PCMs applications
(13)
in greenhouses for a long time. For example, Chen’s team has worked on
the PCM north wall applied in agricultural greenhouse [37–44,60] since
2010. The main research field is focusing on greenhouse north wall
using PCM, which has involved in selection of PCMs, PCM thickness
effect, PCM integration with solar thermal systems (e.g., active-passive
ventilation wall with PCM, solar-assisted steam curing of precast con­
create, active-passive triple wall with PCM, effect of PCMs on green­
house indoor thermal environment etc.).
5. Conclusions and future work
This work has systematically and intensively reviewed PCMs appli­
cations in agricultural greenhouses. The major scientific and valuable
conclusions have been concisely presented below:
(1) For the last five years, the research focusing on suitable PCMs
used in agricultual greenhouses has become more and more
prevalant, as the amounts of published journal papers (i.e., 33
pieces) have been more than doubled in comparsion to that of
2011–2015 (i.e., 16 pieces). The researchers mainly come from
China, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran and India etc.
(2) Different from PCM applications in human-occupied buildings,
thermal requirement of crop growth and development between
day and night is adequately considered. The PCM melting tem­
perature should be close to each crop’ individual suitable
growing temperature.
(3) The most popular PCM type applied in greenhouses is paraffin
wax or its-based composite including fatty acids, oleic acid and
decanoic acid, which accounts for around 30% of selected articles
in this review work.
(4) The particular applications of PCMs in greenhouses include en­
ergy storage (PCMs as north wall), drying crops, and heating for
hydroponics root zone. The melting point of PCMs should be
required near crops’ suitable growing and developing tempera­
ture range. The key point of PCMs application in heating hydro­
ponics root zone is to enlarge the surfaces between PCM and root
zone, to enhance the heat transfer rate in between.
In the future, as the emerging of innovative materials, renewable
energy technologies, advanced control, and artificial intelligence (AI), it
10
M. Mu et al.
would be a new revolution for agricultural greenhouse energy man­
agement system (AGEMS) if making full use of PCMs’ advantages and
characteristics of greenhouses and inside crops growth, combining the
aforementioned technologies. For example, whether “Stefan Problem
(for the sake of stabilizing the liquid-solid phase interface position at a
chosen set point)”, AGEMS precision prediction considering PCM
application could be solved by AI.
Our project of Energy-saving Optimization and Regulation of Multi-
temporal-spatial-scale Greenhouses for vegetable crops or aquaponics
funded by Overseas High-level Youth Talents Program has been
currently investigating and developing by the present authors. Practical
testing and evaluation on system performance will be performed in the
future.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by Overseas High-level Youth
Talents Program, (China Agricultural University, China, Grant No.
62339001), Science and Technology Cooperation – Sino-Malta Fund
2019: Research and Demonstration of Real-time Accurate Monitoring
System for Early-stage Fish in Recirculating Aquaculture System
(AquaDetector, Grant No. 2019YFE0103700), Major Science and Tech­
nology Innovation Fund 2019 of Shandong Province (Grant No.
2019JZZY010703), China Agricultural University Excellent Talents Plan
(Grant No. 31051015). The authors are also very grateful to the referees
who provide valuable and positive comments.
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