FLEETS

Electrolyte to 'revolutionise' battery storage

Canadian energy storage metals company VanadiumCorp has started testing of a “revolutionary” electrolyte that could achieve a higher energy density in vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) cells, making it particularly suitable for mobile applications such as heavy-duty vehicles.

 V-Br electrolyte represents the potential for a revolutionary advancement in the vanadium flow battery

V-Br electrolyte represents the potential for a revolutionary advancement in the vanadium flow battery

Vanadium bromide (V-Br) electrolyte will undergo testing by the German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for Storage of Renewable Energy (CENELEST), at both the University of New South Wales and the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Munich.

Adriaan Bakker, chief executive of VanadiumCorp, said: "[This] innovation with CENELEST could facilitate the electrification of both stationary and mobile applications. Vanadium is the only renewable metal in energy storage, and we plan to produce it with our 100% owned green technology as green fuel in energy storage that can be scaled to any size."

The company said a higher energy density V-Br electrolyte and advancements in stack architecture could increase the energy stored in a conventional VRFB by two to three times.

"V-Br electrolyte represents the potential for a revolutionary advancement in the vanadium flow battery that could enable safe and long-life zero emission electrochemical energy for mobile applications (heavy duty vehicles, trains, ships, and many others) that require higher energy density battery systems only previously possible with lithium-ion," said the company.

VanadiumCorp in November bought all patent rights for a vanadium chemicals processing technology it developed with Electrochem Technologies & Materials.

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