SYNTHESIS AND STUDY OF MICROCAPSULES SYNTHESIS WITH BEESWAX CORE AND PHENOL-FORMALDEHYDE SHELL BY TAGUCHI METHOD

The microencapsulation method is an exhaustively used technique for phase change material (PCM) shape-stabilization. This technique has been used in a broad spectrum of applications such as building, medical, electronics, food, etc. Polymeric encapsulation is characterized with high toughness and good heat transfer property due to large surface area of capsules. In this paper, phenol-formaldehyde shelled PCM microcapsules (MPCM) were fabricated and their processing parameters were analysed with Taguchi method. Core to shell ratio, surfactant concentration and speed of mixing are the parameters which were optimized in five levels. The optimized values for surfactant concentration, core to shell ratio and agitation speed were 3%, 1:1 and 800 rpm. The obtained microcapsules were spherical in shape. The melting enthalpy of MPCM synthesized with optimized processing parameters was 148.93 J/g in the range of 35-62 ⁰C. The obtained temperature range of phase transition temperature can be used for storing different food articles such as chocolate and hot served foods.