TRANSPORTATION
Healthcare needs fuel innovation in cold-chain shipping
The pharmaceutical industry’s demand for temperature-sensitive long-haul shipping has been growing rapidly since the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and growth in interest in GLP-1 therapies. The following are some of the latest innovations and expansions undertaken by shipping and packaging companies to meet that demand — and phase-change materials (PCM) are critical to all of them.
Ecocool GmbH (Bremerhaven, Germany) has developed JuteBox Pharma, a shipping carton with an insulated fleece liner made of recycled jute and a starch-based film, to ship temperature-sensitive medicines. The liner is used in tandem with phase-change materials, qualifying JuteBox Pharma to distribute medicines within a temperature range of 2°– 25°C for up to 72 hours. According to Ecocool, jute provides excellent thermal conductivity, moisture-regulating, and shock-absorbing properties. The company reports that the shipping carton, which is made of FSC-certified corrugated cardboard, is recyclable and its insulation insert and wrapping film are biodegradable in industrial composting facilities.
On Sept. 16, Veritiv Operating Co. (Atlanta, Georgia) launched TempSafe RxShield, its compact cold-chain packaging for the small-scale needs of specialty pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, healthcare distributors, mail-order pharmacies, and home delivery providers. The slim profile package weighs only 240 grams and holds up to four 10 mL vials. The package uses a custom PCM to maintain refrigerated temperatures for up to 36 hours. The reusable package is validated to ISTA 7E thermal performance standards.
Envirotainer (Sollentuna, Sweden) announced its expansion in North and South America, including a second facility in Los Angeles, California; increased warehouse capacity in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and relocation of its operations in Montevideo, Uruguay, in October. “Our continued investment in the Americas is a direct response to how pharmaceutical supply chains are changing,” said Barbara Morgan, regional president, Americas. “By strengthening our network and expanding our local capabilities, we are helping customers navigate uncertainty, adapt to changing demand, and maintain continuity across their supply chains.” In addition, Envirotainer is partnering with UCH Logistics (Staines, England) to provide shipping of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals.
eutecma announced on Sept. 29 its acquisition of Tempaid (Mississauga, Canada). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The merger combines eutecma’s reusable, large-format transport systems with Tempaid’s portfolio of temperature-controlled packaging and its experience with parcel and last-mile delivery, the news release said. Kevin Grogan, CEO of eutecma (Mannheim, Germany), will lead the merged company.
DHL Global Forwarding has expanded its DHL Health Logistics Cold Chain Network with six new dedicated air cargo corridors connecting Europe and North America with Asia: Liège–Shanghai, Brussels–Shanghai, Brussels–Singapore, Cincinnati–Singapore, Cincinnati–Tokyo Narita, and Cincinnati–Seoul Incheon. The routes aim to improve connectivity between major pharmaceutical manufacturing, research, and distribution hubs, DHL said in a news release.The new corridors are supported mainly by DHL’s Cold Chain Network, which combines dedicated healthcare corridors, specialized operational processes, validated handling procedures, and temperature-controlled infrastructure that include thermal blankets and PCM.
FedEx Europe has launched an online portal that enables pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to book and manage temperature-controlled shipments with FedEx Temp-Assure Advantage. Temp-Assure combines the company’s European transportation network with vacuum-insulated packaging and PCM to help maintain required temperatures for more than 96 hours in three temperature categories: frozen (-25°C to -15°C), refrigerated (2°C to 8°C) and controlled room temperature (15°C to 25°C). The packaging is reusable.
IN BRIEF
• On Sept. 17, Alexium International Group Ltd., announced the launch of EcoTek, a new family of phase-change materials built on a biodegradable microcapsule (mPCMs) that has passed biodegradation testing to the OECD 301F standard. EcoTek is designed to work for bedding and textiles, apparel and footwear, furniture, building and construction, packaging and cold-chain logistics, electronics, transportation, life science and medical devices, and personal comfort and safety gear. EcoTek lasts for the life of the finished product, the company says, and is able to withstand high-temperature drying, lamination, coating-line shear, foam and slurry formulation, and incorporation into building materials and packaging. EcoTek has melt points ranging from 27° to 31°C for thermal performance and stability.
• On Oct. 12, Phase Change Energy Storage Technology (Beijing, China) announced it had raised nearly $15 million in a Series A round. The company makes smart temperature-control yarns such as phase-change material (PCM) nylon, PCM polyester, and PCM bio-based fibers. The funds will primarily support construction of a 10,000-metric-ton production line for its AC-TEX PCM fiber.
• Forbes reported that 3D printing brought the cost of a PCM thermal battery down to less than $650. The prototype illustrates the potential for parametric modeling and open-source 3D printing to design, fabricate, and validate a cost-efficient, customizable PCM thermal battery. Forbes reported “leak-free operation during hydrostatic leakage tests and repeated thermal cycles” and “that increasing the heat transfer fluid flow rate enhanced heat transfer performance and reduced melting and solidification times by approximately a third and thermal imaging confirmed uniform temperature propagation within the cavity.”
• Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) also used 3D printers to create a heatsink called SPEAR that utilizes phase-change materials (PCMs). The SPEAR team said a phase-change heatsink can reduce size and weight by more than 50 percent without compromising thermal capacity. The team designed and 3D-printed heatsinks and filled and sealed them with PCM. The team’s ability to design, create, and test the components in-house allowed for streamlined and responsive modifications and evaluation.
• On Sept. 22, Traferox Technologies, Inc., (Mississauga, Canada) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance for the X°Port Heart Preservation System, a device that uses phase-change material and insulating foam to keep donor hearts between 4°C–10°C during transport. X°Port Heart builds on the launch of X°Port Lung in 2025, which has been adopted by more than half of U.S. lung transplant programs.
• Ugreen (Shenzhen, China) is launching what it claims is the world’s first power bank with liquid cooling that provides more consistent charging speeds. The new MagFlow Pro, which has a 10,000mAh capacity and a 2C design, uses phase-change material and a liquid-cooled micro-pump to keep from getting too hot. It is priced at $149.99.
• Karen Adams, Peli BioThermal’s vice president of engineering (pictured at right), won the Women in Pharma Award at the Pharma Industry Awards UK 2026 held in London on Sept. 23. The pharmaceutical cold-chain company credited Adams with leading its laboratories to be the first in the industry to earn ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation and leading development of Crēdo Cargo, a bulk reusable pallet shipper utilizing phase-change materials.
• The Frost Titan Core Plate is designed to cool your food and drinks without the bulk. The titanium plate measures 165 x 104 x 10 mm and about 270 g. The makers say the plate can stay below 32°F for up to 12 hours, thanks to a mixture of glycerol, water, and a phase-change material. The Kickstarter campaign already has surpassed its goal and raised nearly $225,000.
• There is still time to register for free for the SINTEF/Gemini Centre TES Workshop being held Dec. 9–10 in Trondheim, Norway. Researchers, industry, and innovation stakeholders are gathering to accelerate the deployment of thermal energy storage (TES) solutions for flexible and decarbonized energy systems.
JOBS
• Croda has an opening for a lead research technician to join its R&D Industrial Specialties team in Fogars de la Selva, Spain. The lead research technician is to “be involved in research and development projects related to formulation chemistry, emulsions, dispersions, and functional materials” such as phase-change materials. Croda also has an opening for an industrial placement for science or engineering students to join its Sustainable Polymer team within the wider R&D Synthesis group in
Goole, England.
• Peli BioThermal has an opening for a production manager in Maple Grove, Minnesota, to be “responsible for driving safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance” for multiple manufacturing departments. Peli BioThermal also has an opening for a manufacturing engineer in Memphis, Tennessee, to lead “equipment validation, process development, continuous improvement initiatives, and new product implementation” across multiple manufacturing locations.
• CIC energiGUNE has an opening for a maintenance technician in Álava, Spain, “with experience in maintenance and a technical specialisation in areas such as air conditioning, refrigeration, electricity, electromechanics, thermal installations, or industrial maintenance.”
• Sunamp (East Lothian, Scotland) has an opening for a materials applications scientist to “develop and test our innovative phase change materials (PCMs), generating experimental data that directly supports product performance, quality and innovation.”
• The AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE INTEC) has an opening for head of the Thermal Energy Storage Working Group, which requires “technical, organizational, and personnel leadership,” as well as “responsibility for national and international research projects concerning thermal storage technologies and their system integration.” Send applications to: bewerbungen@aee.at.
PATENTS
Cellular latent heat thermal storage system
U.S. patent application 20260266559 (applicant City University of Hong Kong,, Hong Kong):
“The invention provides a cellular latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system. The system comprises a plurality of LHTES modules, each LHTES module including an array of LHTES cells; a main balancing valve connected to a pliability of branch valves, each branch valve being connected to a corresponding LHTES module; and a controller. Each LHTES cell includes a plurality of micro-channels connecting an inlet and an outlet for allowing a heat transfer fluid to flow through the LHTES cell; the controller configured to: monitor a state of charge of the LHTES system; and adjusting the main balancing valve to control a flow rate of a heat transfer fluid (HTF) to regulate charging and discharging rate of HTF in the each LHTES cell as required by the building energy management and load regulation. The present invention can enhance building energy management flexibility, improve energy efficiency, and reduce operational costs.”
U.S. patent application 20260266560 (applicant MGA Thermal Pty. Ltd.,, Tomago, Australia):
“An energy storage device for storing thermal energy is disclosed. The energy storage device comprises at least one heating device; a thermal storage body comprising at least one thermal storage block formed from a miscibility gap alloy; thermal insulation surrounding said thermal storage body; and at least one substantially impermeable shell surrounding the thermal storage body and/or the thermal insulation. The device is arranged such that heat can be charged or discharged from said thermal storage body by thermal transfer between said at least one heat transfer channel and at least one thermal storage block. The invention also relates to a method and a system for storing thermal energy in said at least one thermal storage block formed from a miscibility gap alloy.”
Collapsible container with phase-change material
U.S. patent application 20260296721 (applicant Temp Aid Corp.,, Mississauga, Canada):
“A example container includes a front wall, a rear wall, a left wall extending between the front wall and the rear wall, and a right wall extending between the front wall and the rear wall. The left wall includes a predefined fold. The right wall includes a predefined fold. The container further includes a top wall hinged to the rear wall to open and close a top of the container and a bottom wall hinged to the front wall to open and close a bottom of the container. Phase-change material is disposed within the front wall, rear wall, left wall, right wall, top wall, and bottom wall to control the temperature of an object placed inside the container. The left wall and right wall are foldable along the predefined folds to collapse the container.”
Systems, devices, and methods for preseerving an organ for transplantation
U.S. patent application 20260293883 (applicant Traferox Technologies Inc., Mississauga, Canada):
“A method of storing a donor organ prior to implantation into an organ recipient includes bagging the donor organ by placing the donor organ into at least one bag and sealing the at least one bag; placing the bagged donor organ into portable storage container; placing at least one cooling pack in the portable storage container, wherein the at least one cooling pack is configured to maintain a temperature of the donor organ at 8 to 12 degrees C during storage of the donor organ, and storing the donor organ in the portable storage container prior to transplanting the donor organ into the organ recipient, wherein the portable storage container does not contain any ice at any time during storage of the donor organ.”
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
From International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer:
• Analyzing the impact of a high temperature nanocomposite PCM (ZnO-NaNO3) on thermal energy discharge under different experimental test conditions for applications in thermal energy storage
• Dual-channel modular phase change material thermal energy storage inspired by plate heat exchangers: ANN-assisted optimization using a multilayer perceptron
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Latent heat thermal energy storage in a modular flat plate energy storage with wedge fins
• Light-induced plasmon-enhanced composite phase change materials for concurrent thermal energy storage and solar thermoelectric power generation
• Thermal energy storage performance of encapsulated palm waste derived bio based phase change materials for solar cooling applications
From International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer:
From Applied Thermal Engineering:
• Adaptive thermal regulation enabled by synergistic radiative cooling and phase change energy storage
• Thermal performance evaluation and building energy saving effect of high performance floor heating system using micro-encapsulated PCM
From Results in Engineering:
From Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects:
From Renewable Energy:
From Energy Conversion and Management: X:
• Numerical modeling and thermal performance enhancement of a parabolic solar thermal energy storage system using SWCNT-enhanced phase change materials and thermoelectric generator
• TPMS metallic porous skeleton-enhanced heat transfer characteristics of solid–liquid phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications
From Bioresource Technology:
From Materials Today Sustainability:
From Construction and Building Materials:
From Ceramics International:
• Fabrication of ant nest-inspired SiO2/paraffin phase change composites with anisotropic thermal properties via freeze casting
• Thermal storage and wear resistance of paraffin-based shape-stabilized phase change composites with CaCO3 foamed iron tailings ceramic matrix
From Next Materials:
• Silver-deposited antibacterial phase change microspheres
From Chemical Engineering Journal:
From Advances in Applied Energy:
From Next Nanotechnology:
From Journal of Building Engineering:
From Materials & Design:
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 1,800 people have joined a LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. You are invited to join the Phase Change Matters group and connect with PCM and TES experts from around the world.
This month we welcome Mike Berry, managing director of Datum Phase Change Ltd., Essex, England.
NEWS TIPS
Does your company, agency or university have a job opening, new research, new product or other news you’d like to share? I would love to hear from you. Please contact newsletter editor Amy Phillips at phasechangematters@gmail.com.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
This newsletter is made possible through the generous support of the RAL Quality Association PCM and the members listed below. To learn more about the association, including membership benefits, please contact Stefan Thomann, executive director, at pcm@kellencompany.com.
Axiotherm GmbH | Croda Europe, Ltd. | Hangzhou Ruhr New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (RuhrTech) | ISU Chemical Co. Ltd. | Ningbo Passive Edge Material Co., Ltd. | PCM Technology |PLUSS Advanced Technologies, Ltd. | Rubitherm Technologies GmbH | Sasol Germany GmbH | Sunamp, Ltd. | Associate member: Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (HSLU) | University of Applied Sciences Zwickau (WHZ)