Optimizing the design of food packaging containing phase-change material using experimental and numerical approaches

• PCM starch films were studied experimentally and compared with bulk configuration. • Bulk PCM showed higher performance but needed a leakage risk assessment. • Thermal model was used to identify optimal phase-change temperature. • Optimum melting temperature range is between 0 and 6 °C for a 4 °C threshold. • Use of air gap inside the food packaging improves the performance only slightly. Incorporating Phase Change Material (PCM) into food packaging can highly improve its performance of maintaining product temperature during temperature breaks. One of the primary challenges in using PCM is the risk of leakage, a problem that can be mitigated by encapsulation. An experimental set-up was developed to study the thermal behaviour of a PCM (tetradecane) encapsulated in bio-sourced starch films using sustainable chitin particles for Pickering-type stabilisation, and to compare it with the bulk configuration. The experimental results permit the validation of a thermal model for bulk PCM and microencapsulated PCM. The model was used to simulate variations in phase-change temperature. It was found that the optimal melting temperature range depends on both the ambient temperature and the threshold. The optimal melting temperature range is between 0 and 6 °C for a 4 °C threshold. The use of an air gap inside the food packaging improves the performance only slightly. Increasing the number of films enhances the stored energy while using PCMs at different phase change temperatures can offer high potential for maintaining product temperature. Unlike previous studies, this work proposed biobased stabilization solutions and combined experimental and modelling approaches to address various PCM configurations for food packaging design optimization.