Development of phase change materials for thermal protection of citrus trees in Cukurova Region

In this study, phase change materials (PCM) with the ability to store thermal energy were developed with the aim of protecting citrus trees from frost damage. Frost damage is a meteorological event, which happens when temperature falls below zero degrees centigrade and plants begin to be damaged leading to serious economic loses. Ethanol, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol aqueous solutions were evaluated as phase change materials for the purpose of keeping plants at a safe temperature during frosts in the Cukurova region where frost events happen occasionally. Cooling-heating curves, differential scanning calorimetry analysis, and thermal conductivity measurements of the developed alcohol solutions were done. Packaging for the PCMs were developed for use as thermal protection and their performance was measured on a sample of citrus seedling. Supercooling of the developed solutions was a problem faced during the experiments which was solved by using silver iodide as a nucleating agent. As a result, it was concluded that ethanol solution had the best thermal protection performance, but all three solutions can be used as PCMs for thermal protection of plants.