{"id":447199,"date":"2023-05-31T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=447199"},"modified":"2023-05-31T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T04:30:00","slug":"the-table-salt-and-water-battery-the-revolution-of-energy-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/the-table-salt-and-water-battery-the-revolution-of-energy-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"The table salt and water battery: the revolution of energy storage?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A big tank, a generous amount of water, and abundant table salt. It isn\u2019t the incipit of the ingredients and tools needed to cook a meal for the whole neighborhood, but what\u2019s required to create a safe and efficient battery to store energy from your solar panels. Don\u2019t venture into DIY, though; this Dutch company knows better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2014, AQUABATTERY<\/a> developed a battery that can store renewable energy in salt water. In this way, power stashing becomes safe \u2013 lithium-ion ones can burn if overheated \u2013 leveraging cheap, sustainable, and widely available materials such as table salt and water. These advantages guarantee long-term and large-scale energy storage, making this technology suitable for storing renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company opened its new facility in Alphen aan de Rhijn (the Netherlands) to produce the first modules and deliver its first megawatt-scale batteries. Dubbed by the European Innovation Council<\/a> as \u201cone of Europe\u2019s breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations,\u201d AQUABATTERY is working on scaling its system. They developed a ten kW power module and aim to upgrade it to 100 and 300 kW in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel very excited to make it to this moment,\u201d Jiajun Cen, CEO of the company, states with a sense of pride. \u201cAlthough our idea is straightforward, the technology behind it is quite complicated, but making it work and economically available were the main challenges on our way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mimicking biological cells <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The stationary battery is made of two units: a power module containing membrane stacks and a storage unit made of water tanks. During the charging process, saltwater flows through membranes, separating it into acid and base \u2013 each ending in a separate tank \u2013 thereby storing energy. When discharging the battery, the two streams are combined and pass through the membrane again, generating renewable electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a salt gradient \u2013 the energy created from the difference of salt concentration in two fluids  \u2013 creates an energy potential difference,\u201c explains Emil Goosen, founder of AQUABATTERY. The membrane stacks mimic what biological cell membranes do. \u201cThe process replicates active salt transfer, which balances water and salt. After doing some sport or drinking a lot, that balance needs to be restored, and some cells pick certain salt ions from the bloodstream,\u201d he clarifies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, storage capacity and power are scalable, allowing for long-duration energy storage \u2013 between eight and 100 hours. \u201cIncreasing the size of the reservoirs and the volume of water increases the storage duration time,\u201d Goosen underlines. \u201cTherefore, we make it flexible for each application and storage time needed, combining our power module with different-sized water tanks,\u201d Cen adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The two founders during the opening ceremony, on the left is Jiajun Cen, and on the right is Emil Goosen. – \u00a9 Innovation Origins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Flow batteries <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The table salt and water battery falls under the category of flow batteries. A flow battery is one where two liquids, separated by a membrane to enable ion exchange, undergo electrochemical reactions. AQUABATTERY\u2019s system features membrane stacks placed into a 40-ft sea container connected with pipeworks to the water reservoirs. Therefore, it is a good fit for stationary applications \u2013 such as storing excess power from solar or wind parks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the plans for Horizon Europe<\/a> \u2013 one of the EU\u2019s major research and innovation funding programs \u2013 lithium batteries were mentioned hundreds of times, while flow batteries maybe twice,\u201d states Kees van de Kerk. He\u2019s the president of Flow Batteries Europe<\/a>. This umbrella organization brings together several flow battery stakeholders in the EU, which campaigned to promote and showcase the potential of these technologies in the past few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid the many technological options available in the battery field, flow batteries are optimal for two kinds of usage. \u201cHigh cycle applications \u2013 they can be used for thousands of cycles without compromising their performances \u2013 and long storage ones are the two sweet spots. Furthermore, stationary storage is becoming more important, and we need money to kick off projects to scale the technology,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Revolutionising the grid: Flow batteries pave the way for sustainable energy storage<\/div>
MIT researchers are advancing flow battery technology for grid-scale energy storage, offering a promising solution to accommodate the increasing dominance of renewable energy sources. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cBrilliant\u201d solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Goosen\u2019s opinion, \u201cpositive signals\u201d are coming from the EU concerning energy strategies. \u201cI see that the EU is working with many different parties to add more flexibility to an energy system run on renewables.\u201d His only concern is to bring the technology to the market quickly enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In making the transition happen, Cen highlights the \u201cintrinsic motivation\u201d of his team and its commitment to sustainability. \u201cWhat I like the most about their concept is the storage medium. Most flow batteries companies use vanadium \u2013 a metal \u2013 because it\u2019s stable, but creating a storage system with just salt and water is brilliant,\u201d says van de Kerk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
On the left the first iteration of the Aquabattery and on the right the production space. – \u00a9 Innovation Origins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Efforts <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To get to this point, AQUABATTERY has worked for almost a decade. From the very first experiments in a garage box, countless hours of research and experiments have been devoted to the idea. In the new company\u2019s production space, several prototypes provide a tangible timeline of the endeavor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first concept was charging and discharging by using fresh and saltwater. The company then shifted to today\u2019s acid-based solution to improve performance and started experimenting with different membrane stacks. In 2017, AQUABATTERY set up its first pilot in the Delft University of Technology<\/a>\u2019s Green Village. Three years later, the battery took a trip to the island of Pantelleria, Italy, and was tested at a local power plant. This is a radically improved technology, where the power and energy density has improved tenfold. Last year, the system was tested in the Dutch town of Gorinchem\u2019s sewage treatment plant, which uses self-generated renewable electricity from a solar park.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
How the European Battery Alliance is preparing society for a decarbonized 2030<\/div>
The global battery market is booming. Boosted by the fast development of electric driving, consumer electronics, and storage for off-grid and microgrid systems, the industry has developed rapidly worldwide. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

For AQUABATTERY\u2019s founders, the best is yet to come. Driven by the expansion of renewables, they foresee bringing their product to different users. \u201cAt first, we target industrial and commercial applications. Companies will be required to have solar panels, so they\u2019ll need long-duration energy storage to manage electricity production and consumption efficiently. Down the line, we envision installing our batteries in solar and wind parks to buffer them,\u201d concludes Cen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A big tank, a generous amount of water, and abundant table salt. It isn\u2019t the incipit of the ingredients and tools needed to cook a meal for the whole neighborhood, but what\u2019s required to create a safe and efficient battery to store energy from your solar panels. Don\u2019t venture into DIY, though; this Dutch company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":495081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[78257,76438,78259,60236],"location":[6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-447199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-aquabattery","tag-battery-magazine","tag-energy-storage-8","tag-flow-batteries","location-netherlands","article_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"AQUABATTERY\u2019s battery technology can safely store energy using water and table salt. We visited the opening of their new production facility. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_180106.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["AQUABATTERY<\/a>","battery magazine<\/a>","energy storage<\/a>","flow batteries<\/a>"],"unlinked":["AQUABATTERY<\/span>","battery magazine<\/span>","energy storage<\/span>","flow batteries<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 31, 2023","modified":"Updated on May 31, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 31, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on May 31, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=447199"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=447199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}