9th IIR Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain

ICCC 2026 ISTANBUL

Sustaining Cold Chain and Food for the Future

12-14 April 2026, ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE

Conference Focus:

The ICCC 2026 conference will focus on advancing sustainability and innovation in the cold chain, featuring key discussions on challenges and opportunities shaping the global food supply chain.

Participation Presentation:

Numerical Evaluation of Phase Change Material Integration in Cold Room Walls: Energy and Product Temperature Control for Frozen and Fresh Storage

Zakaria OUAOUJA (a,b), Cyril TOUBLANC (a)*, Abdellah OUSEGUI (b), Olivier ROUAUD (a), Michel HAVET (a)

(a) Oniris, Nantes Université, CNRS, GEPEA, UMR 6144, 

F-44000, Nantes, France

(b) CSC, LMIMP, ENSAM, Université Moulay Ismail

Marjane 2, B.P. 15290 Al Mansour, Meknès, Maroc

Abstract

This study presents a numerical evaluation of integrating Phase Change Materials (PCMs) into the inner surfaces of cold room walls to enhance energy efficiency, product temperature stability, and energy flexibility. A dynamic cold storage model was developed using EnergyPlus co-simulated with MATLAB, considering both frozen and fresh product storage (e.g., fruits). The impact of PCM in terms of energy consumption and product temperature fluctuation. Results show that PCM integration effectively limits product temperature variations, improving thermal stability under various operating conditions. However, in most scenarios, energy savings remain negligible without implementing a cold production control strategy. When combined with an energy management strategy such as a Demand Response approach, PCMs enable load shifting and energy reduction while preserving product quality. This highlights the importance of active control strategies to unlock the full energy-saving potential of PCMs in cold storage applications.

Keywords: Cold storage, Food application, Simulation, PCM, Latent heat, Energy Efficiency

 The 2024 IEEE International Conference on Circuit, Systems and Communication,

ICCSC 2024 

June 28-29, 2024, Fez, Morocco

Conference Focus:

The ICCC 2026 conference will focus on advancing sustainability and innovation in the cold chain, featuring key discussions on challenges and opportunities shaping the global food supply chain.

Participation Presentation:

 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Phase Change Materials during Power Outage and Defrosting Cycles for a Cold Room Storage

Zakaria OUAOUJA (a,b),  Abdellah OUSEGUI (b), Cyril TOUBLANC (a), Olivier ROUAUD (a), Michel HAVET (a)

(a) Oniris, Nantes Université, CNRS, GEPEA, UMR 6144, 

F-44000, Nantes, France

(b) CSC, LMIMP, ENSAM, Université Moulay Ismail

Marjane 2, B.P. 15290 Al Mansour, Meknès, Maroc

 The 4th International Conference on Innovative Research in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology

IRASET’2024

May 16-17, 2024, Fez, Morocco 

Conference Focus:

 The International Conference on Innovative Research in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology (IRASET) focusing on the latest researches, developments, advances and new technologies in the fields of Computer Science, Information Technology, Signal Processing, Emerging Technologies, Wireless Communications, Smart Grid and Green Communications. The conference aims to disseminate novel ideas and emerging trends, research results and practical achievements. Original and high quality contributions are solicited, including theories, applications and experiments. The IRASET is an opportunity to network, build up partnerships and exchange ideas with a variety of experienced researchers, developers and practitioners from several universities, research institutes, and academia. 

Participation Presentation:

Inverse Method for Estimating Thermal Properties of Phase Change Material Using Levenberg-Marquardt Method

Zakaria OUAOUJA (a),  Abdellah OUSEGUI (a)

(a) CSC, LMIMP, ENSAM, Université Moulay Ismail

Marjane 2, B.P. 15290 Al Mansour, Meknès, Maroc

Abstract

This paper investigates the application of the Inverse method to a 1-D semi-infinite melting problem in order to estimate thermal properties of of Phase Change Material (PCM), including the melting point Tm, density ρ, and latent heat capacity L. The problem predicts temperature using an analytical solution based on Stefan’s problem that uses Neumann's similarity solu- tion. It then estimates the unknown parameters using nonlinear inverse method based on the Levenberg-Marquardt Optimization (LMO). Two PCMs, sodium sulfate and water, were used to validate and evaluate the efficiency of the proposed model. Numerical results show that the model is robust as it converges quickly to exact values - 34 iterations for sodium sulfate case and 22 for water - indicating high reliability with negligible error. 

Keywords: Inverse Heat Transfer, Stefan Problem, Inverse Method, Levenberg-Marquardt Method, Phase Change Materials

The International Conference on Advances in Communication Technology, Computing and Engineering 

(ICACTCE) - 2021

March 24-26, 2021 CyberSpace 

(Due to COVID-19, this edition is virtually from Morocco)

Conference Focus:

The International Conference on Advances in Communication Technology, Computing and Engineering will be organized from 24 to 26 March 2021 in Morocco. The conference is organized with the objective of bringing together innovative scientists, professors, research scholars, students and industrial experts in the field of Computing, Communication and Engineering to a common forum. ICACTCE'21 is offering a fantastic opportunity to attend a global scientific forum from the convenience of your desktop. No traveling, no hotel expenses, no time away from the office. The conference runs fully online, from paper submission, including reviewing, conference discussion, and post-conference processing. The online conference is a smart and affordable manner of presenting research results. 

Participation Presentation:

Energy efficiency in buildings: Numerical study of the impact of integrating Phase Change Materials into walls

Zakaria OUAOUJA (a),  Abdellah OUSEGUI (a)

(a) CSC, LMIMP, ENSAM, Université Moulay Ismail

Marjane 2, B.P. 15290 Al Mansour, Meknès, Maroc

Abstract

In order to improve the energy efficiency of lightweight envelopes, the solar energy storage using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) integrated into the is suggested as a passive solution, since PCMs are considered one of the most recommended materials for storing or releasing thermal energy in the form of latent heat. For this specific reason a comparative study between structures with and without PCM has been developed to highlight the actual impact of the thickness, location and type of the PCM layer on the thermal behaviour inside buildings and their impact on electricity consumption.

An American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) benchmark cases were chosen to validate the model.This numerical study was performed out using the "EnergyPlus V 9.0.1" building thermal simulation software, which accurately predicts the building's temperature, humidity and energy consumption profiles as well as several other parameters.

Keywords: Phase Change Materials, Building Energy Modeling, Building effeciency, EnergyPlus