Temperature regulation in fuel storage: Polyurethane/eicosane microcapsules for reducing gasoline breathing loss and...

Phase-change materials (PCMs) offer promising solutions for reducing gasoline breathing loss from storage tanks by stabilizing temperature fluctuations. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a heat storage paint coating containing eicosane-loaded polyurethane (PU/Eic) microcapsules for gasoline storage applications. The microcapsules, synthesized via emulsion interfacial polymerization, exhibited a high latent heat capacity of 182.6 J/g and a phase transition range of 35-45 °C. In model tank experiments, the coating reduced the temperature of the headspace vapor by an average of 1.7 °C during 480 simulated day/night cycles. Using these experimental results and real climate data from 2023, breathing loss calculations for a 5000-ton vertical steel tank across different Russian climatic groups showed potential gasoline savings of 84-235 kg/year (1.79-2.76 % reduction). The most significant reductions were found out in moderately warm climatic groups where ambient temperature fluctuations matched the PCM phase transition range. This work demonstrates a great potential of PCM-based heat storage coatings for mitigating gasoline evaporation, suggesting a novel approach for reducing both economic losses and environmental impact in fuel storage facilities.