US-based Salgenx says it has successfully integrated ultracapacitors into its brine redox flow batteries, resulting in significantly improved power response and system performance.
The company announced the scalable SRFB earlier this year. The system has two separate electrolyte tanks, one of which is normal salt water. It doesn’t use lithium or vanadium and is membrane-less, unlike other flow batteries, which promises big profits with flat storage costs.
The company claims a material cost of $5/kWh, $257/kWh for system infrastructure, and a total system cost of $500,000, or $166/kW for a 3,000 kWh battery. The technology is claimed to have a life expectancy of over 25 years and a round-trip efficiency of 91% at 10mA/cm². Its energy density of 125.7 Wh/L is higher than most other flow battery solutions available today.
The Salgenx system circulates salt water and a proprietary electrolyte through electrodes that regulate the input and output of the battery’s electricity. The battery is said to be suitable for a variety of applications, including grid-scale energy storage (both standalone and solar or wind), demand response, grid arbitration, microgrid deployment, voltage and frequency regulation, cogeneration, electric vehicle charging stations, desalination, and thermal storage.
Now, with the integration of ultracapacitors, SRFBs are expected to deliver even greater benefits. The integrated system is said to provide fast power in milliseconds, compensating for the slower response time of SRFBs and significantly increasing the overall power of the systems.
With the addition of ultracapacitors, the SRFB system can now effectively handle short-duration high-power demands, according to Salgenx. This increased efficiency extends the life of the SRFB and improves overall system performance.
SRFBs are known for their high energy density, while ultracapacitors excel in power density. Therefore, the SRFB provides long-term energy storage, while the ultracapacitors supplement it with high-power bursts when needed, resulting in a more comprehensive energy storage solution, according to the manufacturer.
“The successful integration of ultracapacitors with SRFB is a significant milestone for Salgenx and the entire renewable energy industry,” said Greg Giese, CEO of Salgenx.
