Thermal storage based on phase change materials (PCMs) for refrigerated transport and distribution applications along the cold chain: A review

Foodstuff has to be transported from where it is produced or packaged the market. It important control temperature and humidity of delivered food minimize waste ensure customer satisfaction. At same time, unfortunately, transport sector among polluting sectors. Therefore, innovative solutions have been proposed such as adoption Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) systems based on Phase Change Materials (PCMs) temperature. Such fuel consumption thereby reduce emission. LTES rely phase change process absorb store heat in a more sustainable way while ensuring nearly constant for foodstuff being transported. Hence, we first present general overview application PCMs at low temperatures. Then, literature refrigerated critically surveyed. Different proposals offered are recovered, compared, assessed their merits. Despite differences between technologies, significant advantages terms uniformity space, product thermal stress reduction, quality, energy consumption, pollutant emissions reduction reported surveyed this paper.