| From: Eric | 5/1/2024 4:58:12 PM | | | | | | Natron begins commercial-scale operations at sodium-ion battery plant in Michigan
01 May 2024
Natron Energy has begun commercial-scale operations at its sodium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Holland, Michigan. Natron’s milestone marks the first commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in the US.
These batteries offer higher power density, higher cycles, a domestic US supply chain, and unique safety characteristics over other battery technologies, and are the only UL-listed sodium-ion batteries on the market today.
Natron has invested more than $40 million to upgrade the $300-million facility and convert existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing lines to sodium-ion battery production. Contributing to this investment, ARPA-E provided $19.8 million through the Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program. ( Earlier post.)
The Holland facility will accelerate Natron’s technology commercialization while supporting more than 100 local jobs by the end of 2025 and strengthening the region’s rapidly growing clean energy manufacturing sector.
At full capacity, the Holland facility is projected to produce 600 megawatts of sodium-ion batteries annually and will serve as a blueprint for future Natron giga-scale facilities. Natron will begin battery shipments in June with an initial focus on data center customers to address the energy storage needs and 24/7 power required to support the explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence. Beyond data centers, Natron aims to transform the way businesses use industrial power across a wide range of end markets, including industrial mobility, EV fast charging, and telecom, among others.
Natron’s patented Prussian blue electrodes store and transfer sodium-ions faster, more often, and with lower internal resistance than any other commercial battery on the market today, the company says. The battery chemistry presents zero strain during charging and discharge, 10x faster cycling than traditional lithium-ion batteries, and a more than 50,000-cycle life.
Natron’s supply chain requires zero lithium, cobalt, nickel, or other difficult-to-obtain minerals.
The company has received investments from strategic customers, including Chevron and Nabors Industries.
Posted on 01 May 2024 in Batteries, Manufacturing, Market Background, Na-ion
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| From: Eric | 5/2/2024 8:15:15 AM | | | | | | Contract awarded for works on new 2,000 MWh battery in coal centre
Giles Parkinson
May 2, 2024
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Battery Storage
The Western Australian government has announced that a $160 million has been awarded to the listed SCEE Electrical for works at on the Collie big battery being built by the state owned electricity company Synergy.
The 500 MW, four hour (2000MWh) battery will be one of the biggest in Australia, and the world, when completed before the end of 2025, although it will pipped for the title by another battery being built by Neoen just a few kilometres down the road.
Both batteries, along with big batteries being built at Kwinana and Wagerup, are being contracted with the specific task of time shifting the output of rooftop solar into the evening peak, and helping manage the transition from coal to a grid with a majority share of wind and solar.
Collie has been the centre of the state’s coal generation for decades, providing up to half the state’s electricity needs. But this has fallen to around 30 per cent now and will reduce to zero with the closure of the remaining state-owned coal units by 2029, and the likely closure of the last privately owned generator expected within a few years.
The $160 million contract awarded to SCEE Electrical is for civil, electrical and major equipment installation works for the Collie battery.
The works will include installing and commissioning about 640 battery container units, 160 inverters and 220 kilometres of high-voltage cabling, as well as managing a laydown facility at the Port of Bunbury.
The project is expected to create up to 500 jobs at the peak of construction.
“Synergy’s Collie battery will be a major piece of infrastructure when complete and will play a critical role in Western Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050,” state energy minister Reece Whitby said in a statement.
Jodie Hanns, the local MLA representing the electorate of Collie-Preston, said Collie has played an important role in the energy sector over the past century, and will “continue to be at the heart of the energy system well into the future.”
reneweconomy.com.au
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| From: Eric | 5/10/2024 5:48:14 PM | | | | | | Concrete slab awaits 444 Tesla Megapacks at Melbourne’s giant battery project
Artist impression of Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub battery. Image: Equis.
Sophie Vorrath
May 10, 2024
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Storage>Batter
The concrete is poured and ready for the delivery of the 444 Tesla Megapack modules that will make up one of the biggest grid-scale batteries in Australia, at the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub in Victoria....
The rest of the story:
reneweconomy.com.au
My comments:
This looks to be Tesla's largest Megapack installation to date in Australia!
Projects are getting bigger and bigger.
Eric |
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| From: Eric | 5/14/2024 5:28:47 PM | | | | | | Spain’s storage deployments hit 495 MWh in 2023
According to new data from trade body UNEF, Spain reached 1.823 MWh of cumulative storage capacity at the end of December 2023.
May 14, 2024 Pilar Sánchez Molina
Image: Suministros Orduña
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From pv magazine Spain
According to data from Spanish solar energy association UNEF, around 495 MWh of behind-the-meter storage capacity was installed in Spain in 2023, with residential installations accounting for around three-quarters of the total.
With these new additions, the country reached 1.823 MWh of cumulative storage capacity at the end of December
These figures, according to UNEF, show that the storage business is gaining traction in the Spanish renewable energy market.
“At UNEF we consider it essential to continue working hand in hand with companies and public institutions to draw up an adequate strategy that will allow us the definitive boost that behind-the-meter storage needs,” said José Donoso, general director of UNEF. “We have to continue working on the creation of schemes of financing that allow this type of facilities to be made more competitive, such as VAT exemption or tax deductions.”
Donoso added that in the coming years, batteries could have the same importance as solar panels themselves.
UNEF said that the bankability of battery storage projects has been affected by a significant decline in electricity prices on the Spanish spot market, which also slowed down the distributed-generation solar business across the country.
“Batteries are usually installed with rooftop PV systems,” the association said.
Spain's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 25.54 GW at the end of December 2023. Last year, the nation deployed 5.59 GW of new solar power.
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| From: Eric | 5/15/2024 7:37:09 PM | | | | | | China switches on first large-scale sodium-ion battery
China Southern Power Grid has deployed a 10 MWh sodium-ion battery in China’s Guangxi Zhuang region. It is the first phase of a 100 MWh project.
May 15, 2024 Pilar Sánchez Molina
Image: China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage
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China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage, the energy storage division of China Southern Power Grid, has commissioned a 10 MWh sodium-ion battery storage station in Nanning, southwestern China.
The company said the facility is the first large-scale project of its kind in China, and the first phase of a 100 MWh global project.
“China has put into operation the first large-scale storage station with sodium-ion batteries, marking a new era for low-cost batteries for large-scale use,” said China Southern Power Grid in a statement.
The 10 MWh sodium ion battery energy storage station features 210 Ah sodium ion battery cells that can be charged to 90% in 12 minutes, according to the company. The system consists of 22,000 cells.
“Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the raw material reserves of sodium-ion batteries are abundant, easy to extract, low cost and have better performance at low temperatures, so they have obvious advantages for large scale energy storage,” the company stated. “With these batteries, storage cost can be reduced by 20% to 30%, and the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity may be reduced to CNY 0.2 ($0.0276).”
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| From: Eric | 5/24/2024 1:57:08 PM | | | | | | Latest Snowy 2.0 business case a surprise, but batteries might eat its lunch
David Leitch
May 24, 2024
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Pumped Hydro
Snowy Hydro, just a few days after revealing the latest problems for its luckless tunnelling machine Florence, has published its updated (as of August 2023) business case on its website, which claims an increase in the project’s net present value, despite the blow out in costs.
I am a bit out practice at looking at Net Present Value (NPV) calculations, so reviewing this was a chance to get a bit of “match practice”.
In the brief time available to review the numbers there is nothing that jumps out as being completely unreasonable. In fact, if we take Snowy’s estimate of annual after tax cash flows as reasonable, the project looks attractive. This was a surprise to me.
Although I barely scratch the surface on the biggest component of value – that is simple storage trading, which Snowy estimates is worth $7 billion based on earning an average trading margin of $100/MWh – my own calculations suggests it’s a reasonable estimate, in and of itself.
That is, I’d expect an asset that generates up to 2.2 GW with very large storage could earn $100/MWh for 4 to 6 hours per day. A battery needs double that margin to justify being built and historic margins have mostly been above $100.
However, I also think there will be lots and lots of competition in the storage trading space. Still, with margins over the past year closer to $300/MWh than $200 there is plenty of headroom for competition.
What I haven’t done is look at firming and capacity contracts, that are the second largest source of value, and nor have I looked at the integration of both them to check that for plausibility. Time for lunch.
Overview
Snowy 2.0 represents that for the first 15 years of operation it will earn roughly $1.2 billion of gross margin. The trading gross margin is the difference between the price electricity is sold for and the price paid for it, after adjusting for the round-trip efficiency factor of say 0.75. I also use storage margin or storage reward for the same concept.
The round trip efficiency has two consequences. First it means that to generate for 4 hours you have to pump for 5.3 hours. But when you pump for 5.3 hours it’s likely that the average cost per hour of pumping will be higher than if you only pumped for 4 hours. You get less choice in the hours to pump.
I have used $12 billion for cost which is Snowy’s number. At a minimum there is also capitalised interest to be considered. I would roughly estimate $0.5 billion.
I am happy to exclude most of the transmission costs. In the first place it’s normal to do so, no matter what some say. Secondly I specifically think the business case for Humelink and VNI West is very strong even if Malcolm Turnbull had never indulged his nation building urges.
However, the component of Humelink that is basically only used for connecting Snowy 2.0 should be legitimately added to project cost. Including that and the capitalised interest would likely get to $14 billion, even if there are no further increases.
Snowy 2 casual value. Source: Snowy, ITKe
Notice in the table below, the basically universal view of people selling business cases that things will get better in the far distant future. In this case, as the dollars are nominal, inflation is your friend.
Snowy 2,PV by year. Source:Snowy
If we assume Snowy’s estimate of its after tax cash flows are accurate, then once we allow for the value beyond 2050 as little as it is, then I estimate the project’s underlying rate of return is about 9%.
 Snowy IRR 9%?. Source:Snowy, ITKe
The vast majority of the value is created from the storage reward, but Snowy also plans to sell firming products. It is in a position to do this, up to a point, because of the quantity of stored energy and also its access to its own traditional generation capacity as a backup.
However, it cannot double-dip on the same MW for two different revenue streams at the one time. That is, it can’t be selling the same MW in the spot market and also firming someone else’s solar plant at the same time.
Snowy2 Margin by source. Source:Snowy
Snow’s NPV is a bit easier because volume is fixed. There is no growth
In most cases, much of the debate around the value of a business centres on forecasting the growth rate of cash flows. However, for an individual unit of production like a single factor, or in this case a pumped hydro project, the volumes have a fixed limit, the only variable to be forecast is the average price.
In saying that, Snowy 2.0 has a huge amount of storage – 175 GWh relative to any other long duration storage project. The mooted Borumba project has similar size in power capacity but even its 48 GWh is modest compared to Snowy 2.0.
I am well aware that the ability of Snowy to replenish its storage whenever it wants to is hotly contested, but I don’t propose to consider that in this note. I have zero knowledge on that topic.
Looking at the Storage gross margin
Before doing some specific analysis I can take some numbers I update every week on battery margins that assume a battery operator has perfect foresight and can pick the highest prices to generate at and lowest prices to pump at every day.
The red line is a six hour spread and the green 4 hours. Those margins over the past year average $297 and $356 per year. These are 3X the numbers assumed in the Snowy value case so very supportive.
 Storage margins. Source:NEM Review, ITK
Equally, a new four-hour battery at recent CSIRO Gencost, which in this instance I think are well in the ballpark, requires between $200/MWh and $300MWh to justify the initial investment.
In practice, the batteries are built on the assumption that frequency regulation will provide some of the revenue. Like Snowy once the battery is built, it can undercut Snowy because Snowy’s round trip efficiency is worse than a battery.
Snowy says the design life is 150 years, whereas a battery design life is 20 years. Snowy’s capital cost goes up every year, whereas for the next decade or so battery costs will fall, say, 6% a year.
I have no doubt at all that when 5 GW of new batteries under construction are actually operating, and even assuming that only say 75% of that is devoted to trading, that margins will fall from the current levels.
 Bateries being built. Source:www.renewmap.com.au
However, if margins fall to the $100/MWh assumed by Snowy the batteries will not recover their capital costs.
Looking at it in a fairly casual NPV perspective, my first guess is that if we ignore tax the numbers support Snowy’s estimate of the storage NPV at around $7 billion.
To see that, I made use of the “Gordon Growth formula.” This approximates the NPV of an anual cash flow as CFWACC-g where: CF=Cash Flow WACC=Weighted Average Cost of Capital g=Growth Rate (assumed to be inflation).
The TWh a year and assumed margin were supplied in the business case document. They are almost credible.
Finance 101 in 3 paragraphs
TL:DR – At the risk of boring readers, a reminder that the NPV (which my ex boss used to say stood for No Present Value) makes use of the concept that people will pay more for $1 that they get today compared to $1 in a year’s time and $1 received in two years’ time.
If the rate of interest is 10% you would pay 1/1.1 for $1 to be received in one year and $1.21 for $1 to be received in two years time and so on. By estimating the cash inflows and outflows for each year and choosing a discount rate one calculates the NPV.
Many a textbook has been written about the choice of discount rate which, for something involving risk uses the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). But the simplest and oldest version is the after tax cost of debt plus the cost of equity, using the proportions of each. The cost of equity is a long topic mainly because of the uncertainly around the appropriate measure of risk
NPVs involve forecasts of future cash flows which are highly uncertain. The NPV is also sensitive to the choice of discount rate and the number of years over which the cashflows are forecast.
However, for any reasonable discount rate, cashflows more than 30 years in the future have little impact on the NPV. Or, to put it another way, cash flows received in the earlier years of the project have a much bigger impact than out year ones.
David Leitch
David Leitch is a regular contributor to Renew Economy and co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. He is principal at ITK, specialising in analysis of electricity, gas and decarbonisation drawn from 33 years experience in stockbroking research & analysis for UBS, JPMorgan and predecessor firms.
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My comments:
Hydro still has a place but the vast amount of storage from now into the future is batteries.
They can be put practically anywhere on the grid or behind the meter in your home or business.
The future of large scale energy storage (electrical) has arrived.
Cheaper today than any other storage medium.
And that trend will only continue to get ever cheaper into the future.
Eric |
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| From: Eric | 5/24/2024 4:07:51 PM | | | | | | WA Battery and Critical Minerals Strategy to create future jobs
The Cook Government has released Western Australia’s refreshed Battery and Critical Minerals Strategy to help guide future investment as the state pushes to become a major global player in the downstream processing of critical minerals.
May 23, 2024 WA government
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Since the last refresh in 2020, Western Australia’s (WA) value-adding battery and critical minerals industries have grown substantially. There have also been changes in the international investment environment, including significant global policy shifts in the critical minerals and renewables industries.
The refreshed strategy outlines the state’s government’s vision to continue to grow WA’s internationally competitive, ethical and value-adding industry into 2030.
It aims to further develop the state’s industries to contribute to global decarbonisation efforts, diversify the state’s economy and deliver meaningful outcomes for regional and Aboriginal communities.
“Since 2015, there has been more than $9 billion of investment in WA’s critical minerals processing industries,” WA Premier Roger Cook said.
“Critical minerals are the centrepiece of WA’s economic diversification story and we are working to position our state as a major global leader in downstream processing.”
“This refreshed strategy was developed through consultation with key stakeholders and received more than 50 submissions following a public discussion paper released last year.”
“It sets out key actions to further grow investment in the sector by playing to Western Australia’s strengths, to maximise outcomes for Western Australians.”
“Right now, our priorities are a more efficient approvals system, planning and investment in common-user infrastructure and targeted support for strategically important projects.”
“We are also investing in the development of a future Critical Minerals Advanced Processing (CMAP) common-user facility for further mineral processing opportunities.”
The current near-term priority actions for the state government include:
- creating a more efficient approvals system;
- planning and investing in common-user infrastructure; and
- targeted support for strategically important projects.
Since the first Future Battery Industry Strategy was launched in 2019, production of critical minerals has grown, and sales for copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium have increased from $6.1 billion to $22 billion in 2023.
The refresh is supported by the Cook Government’s new $500 million Strategic Industries Fund, which will be used to prepare land for future industrial projects ensuring WA is primed for sustainable growth and development.
Funded as part of the 2024-25 State Budget, this investment will deliver common-user and other enabling infrastructure at SIAs across regional and metropolitan WA.
It comes as new data from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety shows 2023 represented another stellar year for the State’s resources sector.
Employment in the sector was at record levels and sales on production were at a near-record of $248 billion for the calendar year.
The Cook Government also invested $36.4 million as part of this month’s State Budget to speed up approvals for job-creating projects by boosting resourcing of WA’s approvals framework. This will ensure proponents, stakeholders and Government agencies receive decisions in a timely manner.
Links
wa.gov.au
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| From: Eric | 5/24/2024 9:07:24 PM | | | | | | 
Cathode layer consisting of spherical particles and simulation of the sodium fraction. (For the detailed caption, see the end of the text. Graphics: Simon Daubner, KIT)
Batteries: Modeling Tomorrow’s Materials Today (Sodium-ion Batteries)
8 hours ago
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Microstructure Simulations Reveal Strong Influence of Elastic Deformation on the Charging Behavior of Layered Oxides Used as Cathode of Sodium-ion Batteries
Which factors determine how quickly a battery can be charged? This and other questions are studied by researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with the help of computer-based simulations. Microstructural models help to discover and investigate new electrode materials. When sodium-nickel-manganese oxide is used as cathode material in sodium-ion batteries, simulations reveal modifications of the crystal structure during charging. These modifications lead to an elastic deformation, as a result of which capacity decreases. Researchers report in npj Computational Materials ( DOI: 10.1038/s41524-024-01258-x)
Research into new battery materials is aimed at optimizing their performance and lifetime and at reducing costs. Work is also underway to reduce the consumption of rare elements, such as lithium and cobalt, as well as toxicconstituents. Sodium-ion batteries are considered very promising in this respect. They are based on principles similar to those of lithium-ion batteries, but can be produced from raw materials that are widely accessible in Europe. And they are suitable for both stationary and mobile applications. “Layered oxides, such as sodium-nickel-manganese oxides, are highly promising cathode materials,” says Dr. Simon Daubner, Group Leader at the Institute for Applied Materials – Microstructure Modelling and Simulation (IAM-MMS) of KIT and corresponding author of the study. Within the POLiS (stands for Post Lithium Storage) Cluster of Excellence, he investigates sodium-ion technology.
Fast Charging Creates Mechanical Stress
However, cathode materials of this type have a problem. Sodium-nickel-manganese oxides change their crystal structure depending on how much sodium is stored. If the material is charged slowly, everything proceeds in a well-ordered way. “Sodium leaves the material Layer by layer, just like cars leaving a carpark story by story,” Daubner explains. “But when charging is quick, sodium is extracted from all sides.” This results in mechanical stress that may damage the material permanently.
Researchers from the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) and IAM-MMS of KIT, together with scientists from Ulm University and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), recently carried out simulations to clarify the situation. They report in npj Computational Materials, a journal of the Nature portfolio.
Experiments Confirm Simulation Results
“Computer models can describe various length scales, from the arrangement of atoms in electrode materials to their microstructure to the cell as the functional unit of any battery,” Daubner says. To study the NaXNi1/3Mn2/3O2 layered oxide, microstructured models were combined with slow charge and discharge experiments. The material was found to exhibit several degradation mechanisms causing a loss of capacity. For this reason, it is not yet suited for commercial applications. A change in the crystal structure results in an elastic deformation. The crystal shrinks, which may cause cracking and capacity reduction. INT and IAM-MMS simulations show that this mechanical influence decisively determines the time needed for charging the material. Experimental studies at ZSW confirm these results.
The findings of the study can be transferred partly to other layered oxides. “Now, we understand basic processes and can work on the development of battery materials that are long-lastin and can be charged as quickly as possible,” Daubner summarizes. This could lead to the widespread use of sodium-ion batteries in five to ten years’ time.
Original Publication (Open Access): Simon Daubner, Manuel Dillenz, Lukas Fridolin Pfeiffer, Cornelius Gauckler, Maxim Rosin, Nora Burgard, Jan Martin, Peter Axmann, Mohsen Sotoudeh, Axel Groß, Daniel Schneider, Britta Nestler: Combined study of phase transitions in the P2-type NaXNi1/3Mn2/3O2 cathode material: experimental, ab-initio and multiphase-field results. npj Computational Materials, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41524-024-01258-x
Information on the POLiS Cluster of Excellence
More about the KIT Center Materials in Technical and Life Sciences
Article courtesy of KIT.
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| From: Eric | 5/25/2024 2:41:03 PM | | | | | | 
Credit: Science Advances
Researchers Claim Batteries With Iron Cathodes Outperform Traditional Materials
13 hours ago
Steve Hanley 15 Comments
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It is part of our mantra at CleanTechnica that the batteries needed to make the EV revolution a full success have not yet been invented. A year ago, there were horror stories flying around the interwebs that electric cars were no good in winter. Within a month, CATL and other battery manufacturers said they had new batteries in the works that would solve or at least reduce the loss of performance of batteries in cold weather. People (usually those who have never driven an electric car) complain loudly that the today’s batteries take too long to charge. Presto, cars like the Kia EV3 are announced that can charge from 10 to 80 percent in 30 minutes. Oh, dear. What will we find to complain about next?
How about the high cost of batteries? That’s one that won’t be so easy to solve, even though several researchers are exploring new technology that replaces lithium with sodium. The price of lithium has dropped dramatically from a year ago, but there are few materials on Earth that are cheaper than sodium — one the the components of ordinary salt. Sodium is abundant virtually everywhere — in seawater, for example.
<b.Batteries & Cathodes Cathodes
represent about half the cost of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Many of those cathodes contain cobalt and nickel, both of which are relatively expensive and raise environmental concerns. They are also widely used in various industries. Nickel is used to make stainless steel, and cobalt for decades has been used by the oil industry to make gasoline. Of course, the oil companies don’t mention that when they slam the manufacturers of batteries for forcing little children to dig cobalt out of the ground with their fingers. Hypocrisy is such a normal part of their business that they don’t even blush when caught talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Another cheap and abundant raw material is iron. Researchers at Oregon State University, in collaboration with colleagues at Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, announced this week that they have found a way to substitute iron for nickel and cobalt in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, which could dramatically reduce the cost of cathodes.
The findings, published May 23, 2024 in the journal Science Advances, are important for multiple reasons. Xiulei “David” Ji, the lead researcher at Oregon States, says, “We’ve transformed the reactivity of iron metal, the cheapest metal commodity. Our electrode can offer a higher energy density than the state of the art cathode materials in electric vehicles. And since we use iron, whose cost can be less than a dollar per kilogram — a small fraction of nickel and cobalt, which are indispensable in current high energy lithium ion batteries — the cost of our batteries is potentially much lower.” Economics aside, iron-based cathodes would allow for greater safety and sustainability, Ji added.
Replacing Cobalt & Nickel In Batteries
As more and more lithium-ion batteries are manufactured to electrify the transportation sector, global demand for nickel and cobalt has soared. Ji points out that in a couple of decades, shortages in nickel and cobalt could put the brakes on battery production as it is currently done. In addition, the energy density of cobalt and nickel is already being extended to a maximum level. If it is pushed further, oxygen released during charging could cause batteries to ignite.
Cobalt is toxic, which means it can contaminate ecosystems and water sources if it leaches out of landfills. [Note: no one is disposing of electric car batteries in landfills today. The materials inside are too valuable and can be reclaimed to make new batteries. But batteries for electric bikes, cell phones, computers, and so forth can easily end up in landfills, so the researchers are partially correct.]
A battery consists of two electrodes — the anode and cathode, typically made of different materials — as well as a separator and electrolyte, a chemical medium that allows for the flow of electrical charge. During battery discharge, electrons flow from the anode into an external circuit and then collect at the cathode. In a lithium-ion battery, a charge is carried via lithium ions as they move through the electrolyte from the anode to the cathode during discharge, and back again during recharging.
“Our iron-based cathode will not be limited by a shortage of resources,” said Ji, who explained that iron, in addition to being the most common element on Earth as measured by mass, is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. “We will not run out of iron till the sun turns into a red giant.”
Ji and collaborators from multiple universities and national laboratories increased the reactivity of iron in their cathode by designing a chemical environment based on a blend of fluorine and phosphate anions — ions that are negatively charged. The blend is a fine mixture of iron powder, lithium fluoride, and lithium phosphate.
“We’ve demonstrated that the materials designed with anions can break the ceiling of energy density for batteries that are more sustainable and cost less,” Ji said. “We’re not using some more expensive salt in conjunction with iron, just those the battery industry has been using and then (adding) iron powder. To put this new cathode in applications, one needs to change nothing else — no new anodes, no new production lines, no new design of the battery. We are just replacing one thing — the cathode.”
Storage efficiency still needs to be improved, Ji said. Right now, not all of the electricity put into the battery during charging is available for use upon discharge. When those improvements are made, and Ji expects they will be, the result will be a battery that works much better than ones currently in use while costing less and being more environmentally friendly.
“If there is investment in this technology, it shouldn’t take long for it to be commercially available,” said Ji. “We need the visionaries of the industry to allocate resources to this emerging field. The world can have a cathode industry based on a metal that’s almost free compared to cobalt and nickel. And while you have to work really hard to recycle cobalt and nickel, you don’t even have to recycle iron. It just turns into rust if you let it go.”
The Basic Energy Sciences program of the U.S. Department of Energy funded this research, which was co-led by Tongchao Liu of Argonne National Laboratory and also included Oregon State’s Mingliang Yu, Min Soo Jung, and Sean Sandstrom. Scientists from Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory contributed as well.
The Takeaway
Many readers will have questions about this research. We do not have details on energy density, charging rate, low and high temperature performance, battery life, and so forth. Although, some clues may be contained in the published research paper. It is good news that the iron cathodes process does not require any changes to the production lines that manufacture batteries, but automakers will need years of testing in real-world situations before they agree to purchase these batteries for use in the cars and trucks they sell. That is a given and there’s really no way to speed up that process.
That being said, the improvements in batteries for electric vehicles are happening quickly — much more quickly than improvements to conventional cars came about. It took decades for the self starter to replace the hand crank, and for automatic transmissions, power steering, air conditioning, disc brakes, and self-cancelling turn signals to become widely available. The chances are excellent that the electric cars available in 2030 will represent a quantum leap forward from the EVs of today. Here at CleanTechnica, we can’t wait to see what the EV revolution has in store. The future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades!
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