TY - JOUR
T1 - The acid–base flow battery
T2 - Sustainable energy storage via reversible water dissociation with bipolar membranes
AU - Pärnamäe, Ragne
AU - Gurreri, Luigi
AU - Post, Jan
AU - van Egmond, Willem Johannes
AU - Culcasi, Andrea
AU - Saakes, Michel
AU - Cen, Jiajun
AU - Goosen, Emil
AU - Vermaas, David A.
AU - More Authors, null
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Bipolar membrane
KW - Bipolar membrane electrodialysis
KW - Energy storage
KW - Flow battery
KW - Reverse electrodialysis
KW - Water dissociation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097397633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/membranes10120409
DO - 10.3390/membranes10120409
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097397633
SN - 2077-0375
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Membranes
JF - Membranes
IS - 12
M1 - 409
ER -
