Encapsulation of Coconut Oil Using Ethyl Cellulose as Coating Shell for Thermoregulating Response of Cotton

Abstract

Phase change material (PCM) with its heat storing and releasing ability provides a thermoregulating effect. For thermoregulation, different kinds of PCMs are used among which the paraffins are widely used due to their high enthalpy values. Here, coconut oil was used as PCM in the core by encapsulating cellulose-based shell. Mostly, melamine formaldehyde-based shells are used for encapsulation due to their ease in formation and have toxic effect on humans and environment, so bio-degradable solution is provided using cellulose based shell with coconut oil as core PCM. Ethyl cellulose with its outstanding properties and biocompatible nature provides eco-friendly nanoencapsulation. This research work reports the development of nanocapsules of ethyl cellulose as shell and coconut oil as core PCM via solvent evaporation technique and its application on cotton fabric through coating. The encapsulation was performed using general full factorial design of experiment containing three factors and three levels of each factor except the first factor (type of solvent). The resultant capsules and fabric were characterized using Zeta Sizer, Differential Scanning Calorimeter, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Infrared thermography. Different combination of factors used in experimentation resulted in the investigation of effect of solvents, emulsifiers, etc. on particle size.

Keywords

• microencapsulation
• pcm
• cellulosic materials
• solvent evaporation
• latent heat
• coating