# Thermal Behavior of Alveoli with Phase Change Materials in Fruit Packaging
## 1 Introduction  
A significant portion of the food produced worldwide becomes waste; about 13.2% between harvest and retail, and about 19% wasted in households, food services, and retail combined [1, 2]. The growing increase in the world population, which is expected to reach 8.2 billion people by 2024, makes it urgent to mitigate all food waste [3]. Additionally, this population growth is also reflected in the consumption of food and other essential goods. If food waste rates continue, an unsustainable situation will evolve, which will have significant repercussions on the quality of life of future generations. One of the ways to reduce food waste is to prevent accelerated food spoilage. In particular, in the case of fruit, as it is a type of food that must be consumed fresh to maintain its organoleptic properties, it is essential to avoid temperature variations and keep it as close as possible to the ideal storage temperature. Handling temperatures outside of the ideal range after harvest reduce shelf life and increase degradation [4]. Therefore, keeping fruits cold is an essential requirement to mitigate their degradation, although it has implications in termsof energy consumption, particularly associated with refrigeration systems, which represent around 8% of global electrical energy consumption [5]. In this way, a great technological effort has been made post-harvest, as well as improving energy efficiency to reduce both energy consumption and food waste. The improvement of fruit storage conditions in dedicated temperature-controlled storage chambers reflects the importance that storage temperature plays in mitigating fruit degradation. Integrating phase change materials (PCM) into packaging systems has been extensively explored as a method to enhance the thermal management of perishable products, maintaining the temperature as close as possible to the ideal storage temperature [6]. Several studies align with and extend the findings of the current research, offering valuable insights into PCM applications for food preservation. Given that the operating mechanism of a PCM consists of the absorption and slow release of latent heat associated with the phase change process, an increase in the amount of stored thermal energy is achieved, which is released with an almost constant temperature over some time sufficient to avoid critical thermal situations for the fruit accommodated in the alveoli of modular fruit transport and storage packaging [7]. [PERSON] et al. [4] emphasize the importance of airflow management and thermal properties in fresh produce packaging. Their research highlights the role of packaging design in maintaining product quality, focusing on thermal and structural dynamics to optimize fruits' post-harvest life. The current study complements these findings by demonstrating how modular packaging with PCMs can further stabilize temperatures during transport and storage. Similarly, [PERSON] et al. [8] researched encapsulated PCMs to reduce temperature fluctuations in perishable food logistics. Their experimental and modeling studies highlight significant improvements in thermal buffering when PCMs are incorporated into packaging, ensuring enhanced preservation conditions. [PERSON] et al. [9] investigated the impact of PCM packaging on ice cream storage, showing how effective thermal buffering can be achieved compared to conventional materials. This parallels the findings in this manuscript, with PCM showing superior thermal performance during both cooling and heating cycles. Additionally, [PERSON] et al. [10] provided a comprehensive review of PCM applications in food packaging, emphasizing challenges such as cost-effectiveness, regulatory considerations, and consumer acceptance, while highlighting the potential of PCMs to transform cold chain logistics. The use of microencapsulated PCMs for temperature stabilization in packaging has also been studied by [PERSON] et al. [11], demonstrating that microencapsulation enhances thermal efficiency and buffering duration in packaging solutions.