AccScience Publishing / GTI / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/gti.8108
ARTICLE

Lime-plaster enhanced with phase-change materials: An experimental monitoring analysis

Eleonora Baccega1* Michele Bottarelli1
Show Less
1 Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
Received: 21 December 2024 | Revised: 3 April 2025 | Accepted: 7 April 2025 | Published online: 8 May 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The building sector strongly affects the energy required for development, especially for heating and cooling processes. The need to reduce the energy demand and environmental impact must contend with the ever-increasing energy demand within buildings and obsolete building stock. The design and construction of new energy-efficient buildings are inadequate to address the issue, which can only be effectively tackled by improving existing buildings. Given that a significant number of these existing buildings are individually protected or located within protected contexts, interventions can be challenging due to several limitations that reduce the number of possible strategies that can be adopted. Therefore, strategies for the energy refurbishment of historical buildings – particularly those integrated within the building envelope – are crucial to achieving the ambitious aim of reducing the environmental impact of the building sector. The effectiveness of phase change materials (PCMs) was investigated when integrated within lime-based plasters for application on the outermost layer of walls. Experimental tests under real outdoor conditions were carried out initially to estimate whether, and to what extent, the addition of PCMs affected the thermal behavior of walls and the building’s energy demand for cooling. Plasters with different PCMs were developed and arranged in a customized setup at the TekneHub Laboratory, University of Ferrara, and subsequently tested over several months. The results demonstrated good performance in attenuating daily temperature fluctuations and reducing energy consumption.

Keywords
Phase-change materials
Lime plaster
Building energy refurbishment
Historical buildings
Funding
This research was carried out with the financial support of Fassa Bortolo, an Italian industry leader in the production of pre-mixed plasters and mortars.
Conflict of interest
Michele Bottarelli is an Editorial Board Member of this journal but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, Eleonora Baccega declared that having no known competing financial interests or personal relationships could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
References
  1. Sinka M, Bajare D, Jakovics A, Ratnieks J, Gendelis S, Tihana J. Experimental testing of phase change materials in a warm-summer humid continental climate. Energy Build. 2019;195:205-215. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.04.030

 

  1. Asadi E, da Silva MG, Antunes CH, Dias L. Multi-objective optimization for building retrofit strategies: A model and an application. Energy Build. 2012;44:81-87. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.10.016

 

  1. Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction. Available from: https://globalabc.org/resources/publications/2020- global-status-report-buildings-and-construction [Last accessed on 2022 Mar 15].

 

  1. Pandey B, Banerjee R, Sharma A. Coupled EnergyPlus and CFD analysis of PCM for thermal management of buildings. Energy Build. 2021;231:110598. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110598

 

  1. Pavlik Z, Trnik A, Keppert M, Pavlikova M, Zumar J, Cerny R. Experimental investigation of the properties of lime-based plaster-containing PCM for enhancing the heat-storage capacity of building envelope. Int J Thermophys. 2014;195:205-215. doi: 10.1007/s10765-013-1550-8

 

  1. Coppola L, Coffetti D, Lorenzi S. Cement-based renders manufactured with phase-change materials: Applications and feasibility. Adv Mater Sci Eng. 2016;2016:7254823. doi: 10.1155/2016/7254823

 

  1. Milone D, Peri G, Pitruzzella S, Rizzo G. Are the best available technologies the only viable for energy interventions in historical buildings? Energy Build. 2015;95:39-46. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.11.004

 

  1. European Parliament, Boosting Building Renovation: What Potential and Value for Europe? Available from: https://www. europarl.europa.eu/regdata/etudes/stud/2016/587326/ipol_ stu(2016)587326_en.pdf [Last accessed on 2022 Mar 17].

 

  1. Pajek L, Potočnik J, Košir M. The effect of a warming climate on the relevance of passive design measures for heating and cooling of European single-family detached buildings. Energy Build. 2022;251:111947. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111947

 

  1. Song Y, Darani KS, Khdair AI, Abu-Rumman G, Kalbasi R. A review on conventional passive cooling methods applicable to arid and warm climates considering economic cost and efficiency analysis in resource-based cities. Energy Rep. 2021;7:2784-2820. doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2021.04.056

 

  1. Akeiber H, Nejat P, Majid MZA, et al. A review on phase change material (PCM) for sustainable passive cooling in building envelopes. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2016;60:1470-1497. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.03.036

 

  1. Sá AV, Azenha M, de Sousa H, Samagaio A. Thermal enhancement of plastering mortars with phase change materials: Experimental and numerical approach. Energy Build. 2012;49:16-27. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.02.031

 

  1. Baccega E, Bottarelli M, Su Y. Alternative experimental characterization of phase change material plasterboard using two-step temperature ramping technique. Energy Build. 2022;267:112153. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112153

 

  1. Baccega E. Thermo-physical characterisation of plasters containing phase change materials (PCMs). Int J Thermophys. 2024;45:33. doi: 10.1007/s10765-023-03327-7

 

  1. Fassa S. Available from: https://www.fassabortolo.it/it [Last accessed on 2022 Jan 22].

 

  1. HEROTILE - High Energy Savings in Building Cooling by Roof Tiles Shape Optimization toward a Better above Sheathing Ventilation. Available from: https://www.lifeherotile.eu/it [Last accessed on 2021 Jan 12].

 

  1. Hukseflux FHF04. Available from: https://www.hukseflux. com/products/heat-flux-sensors/heat-flux-sensors/fhf04- heat-flux-sensor [Last accessed on 2023 Jan 13].

 

  1. DataTaker. Available from: https://www.thermofisher.com/ order/catalog/product/DT85?SID=srch-srp-DT85 [Last accessed on 2023 Jan 13].

 

  1. Davis Vantage Pro2. Available from: https://www. davisinstruments.com/pages/vantage-pro2 [Last accessed on 2023 Jan 13].

 

  1. Hukseflux SR20. Available from: https://www.hukseflux. com/products/pyranometers-solar-radiation-sensors/ pyranometers/sr20-pyranometer [Last accessed on 2023 Jan 13].

 

  1. Smart Advanced Systems GmbH. Available from: https:// www.smart-advanced-systems.de [Last accessed on 2023 Jul 01].

 

  1. TITK- Thüringisches Institut für Textil- und Kunststoff- Forschung. Available from: https://www.titk.de [Last accessed on 2021 Dec 01].

 

Share
Back to top
Green Technology & Innovation, Published by AccScience Publishing