Ethyl cellulose-stabilized Pickering emulsion template for fabricating bio-based phase change foams from carnauba wax and AESO for food packaging

With the rise of takeaway and ready-to-eat food delivery services, the demand for packaging that preserves food freshness is increasing. In this study, a fully renewable phase change foam was fabricated via a Pickering emulsion templating method, incorporating carnauba wax (CW) and acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO). The effects of CW concentration on the rheological behavior, microstructure, thermal energy storage, and mechanical strength were systematically investigated. The incorporation of higher CW content improved both compressive strength (0.135–0.364 MPa) and thermal storage capacity (13.8 J/g at 10 wt%), thereby demonstrating enhanced structural stability and thermal buffering performance. Under simulated food delivery conditions, the optimized foam maintained a stable thermal plateau (75–75.3 °C) for 30 s, exhibiting a 5.8 °C reduction in temperature decay relative to the control AESO foams. These findings provide a promising strategy for developing sustainable, thermally efficient packaging materials for short-term temperature stabilization in food packaging applications.