Doctoral Themes

Marine melanin alternative sources applied to solar thermal energy

Supervisors

Maria José Lourenço, mjlourenco@fc.ul.pt

Andreia Valente, amvalente@fc.ul.pt

Registration Institution

Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa

Project description

The need for alternative raw materials, without total dependence on fossil fuels, has become a current requirement. Melanin from marine sources has already proven to be a more efficient alternative, in addition to being ecological, in the replacement of pigments included in spectrally selective surfaces, used commercially in solar flat collectors.

Without compromising the marine balance of the species that have this material, this work proposes the development of polymeric matrices from marine sources and food waste, such as starch, and an in-depth investigation of other sources of melanin such as human hair and the result of the enzymatic action that causes the banana peels to brown after oxygenation. New extraction and purification processes are foreseen for these pigments, which also include the use of ionic liquids and their recovery as solvents. The morphological, chemical, structural, and functional characterization of these pigments will open a new path in the manufacture and repair of the spectrally selective surfaces currently used in commercial solar flat collectors. The pigments will be applied in real environments, with sun exposure and automatic data acquisition, which will allow a rigorous calculation of the heat transfer efficiency in solar flat collectors.

It is planned to carry out emissivity tests on surfaces obtained in collaboration with the NREL - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory - and durability and aging tests on polymer matrices at DITF - Deutsche Institute für Textil- und Faserforschung Denkendorf (or equivalent) - and in a factory such as S-Solar AB, Sweden.

Keywords

Melanin; Thermal solar energy; Pigments

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