The acid–base flow battery : Sustainable energy storage via reversible water dissociation with bipolar membranes

6533b821fe1ef96bd127af8b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The acid–base flow battery : Sustainable energy storage via reversible water dissociation with bipolar membranes

Ragne Pärnamäe Luigi Gurreri Jan Post Willem Johannes Van Egmond Andrea Culcasi Michel Saakes Jiajun Cen Emil Goosen Alessandro Tamburini David A. Vermaas Michele Tedesco

subject

Settore ING-IND/26 - Teoria Dello Sviluppo Dei Processi Chimici Energy storage Filtration and Separation 02 engineering and technology 010402 general chemistry lcsh:Chemical technology 01 natural sciences 7. Clean energy Energy storage Peak demand Reverse electrodialysis Bipolar membrane Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)lcsh:TP1-1185 lcsh:Chemical engineering Process engineering business.industry Process Chemistry and Technology lcsh:TP155-156 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Flow battery bipolar membrane electrodialysi 0104 chemical sciences Renewable energy Chemical energy Electricity generation Pilot plant 13. Climate action Flow battery Perspective Bipolar membrane electrodialysis Environmental science Electricity Water dissociation 0210 nano-technology business reverse electrodialysi

description

The increasing share of renewables in electric grids nowadays causes a growing daily and seasonal mismatch between electricity generation and demand. In this regard, novel energy storage systems need to be developed, to allow large-scale storage of the excess electricity during low-demand time, and its distribution during peak demand time. Acid–base flow battery (ABFB) is a novel and environmentally friendly technology based on the reversible water dissociation by bipolar membranes, and it stores electricity in the form of chemical energy in acid and base solutions. The technology has already been demonstrated at the laboratory scale, and the experimental testing of the first 1 kW pilot plant is currently ongoing. This work aims to describe the current development and the perspectives of the ABFB technology. In particular, we discuss the main technical challenges related to the development of battery components (membranes, electrolyte solutions, and stack design), as well as simulated scenarios, to demonstrate the technology at the kW–MW scale. Finally, we present an economic analysis for a first 100 kW commercial unit and suggest future directions for further technology scale-up and commercial deployment.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2020-12-01	Membranes

10.3390/membranes10120409 https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10120409