CENELEST – Page 13 – The German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for Storage of Renewable Energy

February 29, 2020

Vanadium Oxygen Fuel Cell utilising high concentration electrolyte

We published an open access article about a Vanadium Oxygen Fuel Cell (VOFC) utilising up to 3.6 mol/L high concentration vanadium electrolyte. Compared to Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, VOFCs allow much higher theoretical energy density by the replacement of the positive electrolyte with an oxygen (air) electrode. The replacement allows the usage of higher concentrated vanadium electrolytes which further increases the theoretical energy density. We present here a VOFC with 3.6 M vanadium solution, which has a theoretical maximum energy density of 146 Wh/L.

Vanadium Oxygen Fuel Cell Utilising High Concentration Electrolyte
M. Risbud, C. Menictas, M. Skyllas-Kazacos, J. Noack, Batteries 2019, 5(1), 24 (OPEN ACCESS)

February 29, 2020

Invited lecture by Chris at the autumn conference of the MRS

Two weeks ago Chris Menictas attended an invited lecture at this year’s autumn conference of the Material Research Society in Boston/MA USA. In his lecture he reported on our scientific activities in the field of modelling and simulation as well as on experimental results of vanadium/air fuel cells with highly concentrated vanadium electrolytes, which potentially enable high energy densities to be achieved. He also talked about activities to reverse the reactions, i.e. the charging process in a separate cell.

February 29, 2020

CENELEST visited 9th IFBF

CENELEST attended the ninth International Flow Battery Forum (IFBF) in Lausanne/Switzerland this July. Chris had a lecture about CENELEST and scientific results of the cooperation which will be reported separately later on. Jens N. participated in the discussion on standards for vanadium flow battery electrolyte and presented the current state of developments in the field of international standardization in the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).

Maria gave an extremely interesting lecture on the situation of the Australian energy market. As always at this worldwide most important event in the field of redox flow batteries, old acquaintances were met again, new acquaintances were met and many discussions about energy storage were held.

February 29, 2020

Workshop with Anthony Price as external advisor for CENELEST

As part of the second CENELEST meeting in Pfinztal/Germany, a workshop with Anthony Price (Swanbarton, International Flow Battery Forum) as external consultant took place on the afternoon of July 6, 2018. The objective of this workshop was to further develop a research strategy to better meet current and future requirements in the field of stationary energy storage.

Anthony gave an excellent overview of 150 years of stationary energy storage, the current situation and future changes in the energy storage market in various regions worldwide. Finally, the workshop participants used the opportunity to hold detailed discussions with Anthony in order to be able to better classify technology trends and react to future developments, among other things.

February 29, 2020

2nd CENELEST Meeting in Pfinztal/Germany

On June 5 and June 6, 2018 the second CENELEST meeting took place at the Fraunhofer ICT in Pfinztal/Germany. As at our first meeting in Sydney/Australia, administrative discussions took place on the first day and presentations and discussions on the scientific content of the collaboration took place on the second day.

From the Australian side, Prof. Maria Skyllas-Kazaco and Dr. Chris Menictas had travelled to this meeting. At this meeting, the premises of the Fraunhofer ICT and the 2 MW / 20 MWh vanadium redox flow battery were also visited.