Member Info for superzero8

https://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news/electric-vehicles-ev-infrastructure/england-to-support-ev-drivers-with-giant-roadside-batteries.html

Another missed opportunity?

The electrolyte is processed from sulphuric acid and vanadium via electrolysis so a reliable power supply would be critical.

line 2 should read - Total cost of electrolyte; $8-11

Some figures from notes I made some time ago

Total cost of electrolyte; £8-11
Rough breakdown of VRFB costs; 35% electrolyte, 35% MEA (Stack), 30% remainder

a quick run through of the figures from Alibaba would appear to confirm a ballpark figure of approx $11 per litre TOTAL cost of electrolyte.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/02/07/vanadiums-role-in-a-just-transition/

I think the output of the AMG electrolyte plant will stay "in house" to manufacture their Hybrid LiVa batteries.

https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/storage/flow-batteries-europe-applauds-inclusion-of-flow-20230125

Flow batteries were included in the Battery Passport following the final vote of the European Parliament and Council of the European Union.

This is a success for FBE and for the thriving flow battery industry. As reported by the LDES Council, by 2040 long duration energy storage need to have scaled up to ~400 times present day levels to 1.5 - 2.5 TW (85–140 TWh) and consequently, between 2022 - 40, $1.5 trillion - $3.0 trillion of total investment in LDES will be required.

It is important that the Batteries Regulation sets the right legislative framework for the energy storage deployment to thrive in the European Union. The inclusion of flow batteries in the provisions will allow for a more comprehensive comparison of energy storage technologies without disincentivising the use of flow batteries for energy storage applications. Flow batteries are a safe, cost-effective and sustainable technology. Customers will now be able to compare the benefits of flow batteries against other batteries based on objective and standardised criteria across the EU.

“We are glad the legislators heard our concerns” said Anthony Price, Secretary General of Flow Batteries Europe. “The inclusion of flow batteries will benefit not only the flow battery industry but the entire European energy system as finally the European Union will have a future proof legislation that sets the basis for a sustainable EU battery value chain.”

Clean energy is the leading solution for climate change. But solar and wind power are inconsistent at producing enough energy for a reliable power grid. Alternatively, lithium-ion batteries can store energy but are a limited resource.

"The advantage of a coal power plant is it's very steady," said Nian Liu, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "If the power source fluctuates like it does with clean energy, it makes it more difficult to manage, so how can we use an energy storage device or system to smooth out these fluctuations?"

Flow batteries offer a solution. Electrolytes flow through electrochemical cells from storage tanks in this rechargeable battery. The existing flow battery technologies cost more than $200/kilowatt hour and are too expensive for practical application, but Liu's lab in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) developed a more compact flow battery cell configuration that reduces the size of the cell by 75%, and correspondingly reduces the size and cost of the entire flow battery. The work could revolutionize how everything from major commercial buildings to residential homes are powered.

The all-Georgia Tech research team published their findings in the paper, "A Sub-Millimeter Bundled Microtubular Flow Battery Cell With Ultra-high Volumetric Power Density," in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Finding the flow
Flow batteries get their name from the flow cell where electron exchange happens. Their conventional design, the planar cell, requires bulky flow distributors and gaskets, increasing size and cost but decreasing overall performance. The cell itself is also expensive. To reduce footprint and cost, the researchers focused on improving the flow cell's volumetric power density (W/L-of-cell).

They turned to a configuration commonly used in chemical separation—sub-millimeter, bundled microtubular (SBMT) membrane—made of a fiber-shaped filter membrane known as a hollow fiber. This innovation has a space-saving design that can mitigate pressure across the membranes that ions pass through without needing additional support infrastructure.

"We were interested in the effect of the battery separator geometry on the performance of flow batteries," said Ryan Lively, a professor in ChBE. "We were aware of the advantages that hollow fibers imparted on separation membranes and set out to realize those same advantages in the battery field."

Applying this concept, the researchers developed an SMBT that reduces membrane-to-membrane distance by almost 100 times. The microtubular membrane in the design works as an electrolyte distributor at the same time without the need for large supporting materials. The bundled microtubes create a shorter distance between electrodes and membranes, increasing the volumetric power density. This bundling design is the key discovery for maximizing flow batteries' potential.

Powering the battery
To validate their new battery configuration, the researchers used four different chemistries: vanadium, zinc-bromide, quinone-bromide, and zinc-iodide. Although all chemistries are functional, two were most promising. Vanadium was the most mature chemistry, but also less accessible, and the reduced form of it is unstable in air. They found zinc iodide was the most energy-dense option, making it the most effective for residential units. Zinc-iodide offered many advantages even compared to lithium: It has less of a supply chain issue and also can be turned into zinc oxide and dissolve in acid, making it much easier to recycle.

This electrochemical solution for this unique shape of the flow battery proved more powerful than conventional planar cells.

"The superior performance of the SMBT was also demonstrated by finite element analysis," said Xing Xie, an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "This simulation method will also be applied in our future study for cell performance optimization and scaling up."

With zinc-iodide chemistry, the battery could run for more than 220 hours, or to > 2,500 cycles at off-peak conditions. It could also potentially reduce the cost from $800 to less than $200 per kilowatt hour by using recycled electrolyte.

Building the future of energy
The researchers are already working on commercialization, focusing on developing batteries with different chemistries like vanadium and scaling up their size. Scaling will require coming up with an automated process to manufacture a hollow fiber module, which now is done manually, fiber by fiber. They eventually hope to deploy the battery in Georgia Tech's 1.4-megawatt microgrid in Tech Square, a project that tests microgrid integration into the power grid and offers living laboratory for professors and students.

The SBMT cells could also be applied to different energy storage systems like electrolysis and fuel cells. The technology could even be strengthened with advanced materials and different chemistry in various applications.

"This innovation is very application driven," Liu said. "We have the need to reach carbon neutrality by increasing the percentage of renewable energy in our energy generation, and right now, it's less than 15% in the U.S. Our research could change this."

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-smaller-cheaper-batteries-energy.html

Significance
Due to an uneven renewable energy resource distribution and time-dependent fluctuation in energy generation, the harvest, storage, and delivery of renewable energy are crucial to match a rapidly growing demand. Flow batteries are a promising technology for large-scale energy storage and exhibit unparalleled advantages in scalability and design flexibility because of the spatially decoupled energy storage and power conversion units. However, commercial flow batteries are still based on cell configurations developed decades ago. The planar configuration exhibits a large cell size with bulky components for high performance, which results in low volumetric power density, high footprint and capital cost. Step-change decreases in cell size will enable reductions in flow battery capital costs and increase their competitiveness ingrid-level applications.
Abstract
Flow batteries are a promising energy storage solution. However, the footprint and capital cost need further reduction for flow batteries to be commercially viable. The flow cell, where electron exchange takes place, is a central component of flow batteries. Improving the volumetric power density of the flow cell (W/Lcell) can reduce the size and cost of flow batteries. While significant progress has been made on flow battery redox, electrode, and membrane materials to improve energy density and durability, conventional flow batteries based on the planar cell configuration exhibit a large cell size with multiple bulky accessories such as flow distributors, resulting in low volumetric power density. Here, we introduce a submillimeter bundled microtubular (SBMT) flow battery cell configuration that significantly improves volumetric power density by reducing the membrane-to-membrane distance by almost 100 times and eliminating the bulky flow distributors completely. Using zinc–iodide chemistry as a demonstration, our SBMT cell shows peak charge and discharge power densities of 1,322 W/Lcell and 306.1 W/Lcell, respectively, compared with average charge and discharge power densities of <60 W/Lcell and 45 W/Lcell, respectively, of conventional planar flow battery cells. The battery cycled for more than 220 h corresponding to >2,500 cycles at off-peak conditions. Furthermore, the SBMT cell has been demonstrated to be compatible with zinc–bromide, quinone–bromide, and all-vanadium chemistries. The SBMT flow cell represents a device-level innovation to enhance the volumetric power of flow batteries and potentially reduce the size and cost of the cells and the entire flow battery.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213528120

https://www.oilandgasksa.com/products-and-services/sarbv-jv-aramco

The complex marks a huge step towards developing a market for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, and aligns with the kingdom’s vision towards achieving sustainability, and energy transition – said AMG in a press release.

The first phase of the JV will include the processing of Vanadium concentrate – which is licensed by Shell – at the Jazan integrated gasification combined cycle plant, which will generate high-purity Vanadium Pentoxide, alongside establishing a regional research and development centre for testing residue-upgrading catalyst, installing a Lithium Vanadium Battery (LIVA), and a vanadium electrolyte production plant – said Zawya.

And ...back down to sub parity for IES!

Is that MCap parity with IES?

https://www.africanstar.org/these-companies-will-provide-the-first-batteries-for-eskoms-massive-backup-energy-storage-system/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Akl46msO4

Is PortLiner still on track to have its first vessel and a charging pontoon operational by the end of 2022?

To answer my own question, I've just seen this!

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/11/10/2553205/0/en/Pineapple-Energy-Acquires-New-York-based-SUNation-Energy.html

PNPL has more than doubled over just a few days, is there still any chance of BMN involvement?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJIcqgKVaCw

https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/tdafoq-energy-partners-with-delectrik-systems-of-india-for-gwh-scale-vanadium-flow-battery-ess-project-in-saudi-arabia-301666039.html