Not BMN specific but interesting5 Jul 2019 08:51
From Engineering and Mining Journal:
Vanadium: the key to sustainable energy
Prospects for vanadium, the strategic metal used primarily as a strengthening alloy to steel and titanium, boomed in 2018. Vanadium has four oxidation states and can conduct electricity without generating heat. It represents approximately 80% of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), of which the electrolyte within the flow battery is 100% reusable and lasts forever. Adriaan Bakker, president and CEO of VanadiumCorp, elaborated on the benefits of VRFBs: "VRFBs are a mature technology capable of storing an unlimited amount of energy. The batteries also have the unique ability to charge and discharge power at different rates, as vanadium is both the analyte and catholyte of the battery."
VanadiumCorp has had a transformational year. After evaluating production models worldwide, it came to the conclusion that the techniques used in the vanadium industry for 50 years and in the steel industry for 100 years were now obsolete. From this backdrop, VanadiumCorp decided to determine a new process technology, which led them to a partnership with Montréal-based Electrochem Technologies & Materials, that had tested bulk samples from VanadiumCorp's Lac Doré project.
In August 2018, the jointly owned, patented VanadiumCorpElectrochem Processing Technology (VEPT) was announced, which allows users to process any material that contains vanadium and to recover vanadium, iron and titanium from magnetites of any shape or size.
VanadiumCorp can now focus on VEPT rather than production and transition from a mining company to a technology one. This will also allow the company to become the discriminating customer of feedstock from around the world, according to Bakker. VanadiumCorp's goal is to lease out vanadium electrolytes (VE) that will provide people with free access to battery technology, significantly reducing the cost of energy storage. Discussing the potential of VanadiumCorp's new technology, he concluded: "With VEPT we have a disruptive technology that vastly supersedes any technology before it. We are confident VEPT will revolutionize the cost and sustainable nature of energy storage as well as vanadium, titanium and iron production worldwide."
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