Kirk Pollard Smith

New Alkalescent Electrolyte Chemistry for Zinc‐Ferricyanide Flow Battery

I sip slowly from the information firehose that is my cornucopia of industry newsletters, RSS feeds, and Google Scholar updates on new publications in the flow battery landscape. There’s not enough time to give everything a proper read, and often if I see something useful I just file it away in Zotero for it to collect digital dust.

The Flowdown #1

Updates from Form Energy  My hot take no one asked for   I don’t want to sound pessimistic. But Form Energy has benefited immensely from the MIT / Yet-Min Chiang / Mateo Jaramillo / Ex-Tesla hype-sphere, and I will wait to be excited about their technology when I see it working, at scale, for a long time, at an affordable price.

The Flowdown #2

Accelerating Low-Carbon Innovation

The Chemistry of Redox‐Flow Batteries

<em>
 Towards the end of 2022 I drafted this, consider it a work in progress - it was before I had joined forces with Daniel to form the Flow Battery Research Collective
</em>
<strong>
 Motivation for an open-source flow battery
</strong>
<strong>
 This project aims to develop an open-source flow battery design suitable for mid-scale manufacturing by a well-equipped hackerspace or conventional machine shop.
</strong>

Motivation for an open-source flow battery

My collaborator Daniel shared an update on his blog about our the progress of our open-source flow battery kit, so I thought I’d do the same. This was motivated by my previous post (Smith 2024). We’ve been working together with Prof Sanli Faez and Josh Hausener at Utrecht University on their FAIR Battery Project, though the repository for my cell design and jig is currently here.

An open-source flow battery kit

Dual Power Supply

:::::::: {#updates-from-form-energy .section .level2}
## Updates from Form Energy {anchor-id="updates-from-form-energy"}

::: {#my-hot-take-no-one-asked-for .section .level3}
### My hot take no one asked for {anchor-id="my-hot-take-no-one-asked-for"}

I don't want to sound pessimistic. But Form Energy has benefited
immensely from the MIT / Yet-Min Chiang / Mateo Jaramillo / Ex-Tesla
hype-sphere, and I will wait to be excited about their technology when I
see it working, at scale, for a long time, at an affordable price. I
have had a cursory look at their patents and my hot take on their
iron-air battery approach is "mo' phases, mo' problems." As in handling
solids, liquids, gases, multi-phase flows, heterogenous catalysts with a
triple-point interface to manage, etc. sounds like a nightmare when
trying to sell a low-maintenance, 20-year warranty energy storage
product. Not to say it can't be done, but it sounds like a hard starting
point.

Another reason for my hesitation is that one of their first
"products"/services was a grid modeling software tool "Formware", the
output of which seemed to be "you need 100 hours of energy storage,
which happens to be the actual product we told our investors we would
sell." I do happen to think long-duration storage is useful to have on
the grid, and 100-hour options, especially electrochemical ones, are
rare to nonexistent now.
:::

::: {#form-is-hiring-a-degradation-engineer .section .level3}
### Form is hiring a degradation engineer... {anchor-id="form-is-hiring-a-degradation-engineer"}

I don't really need to comment on this---not a great sign for
intrinsically long battery lifetimes.

> Form Energy is hiring a Sr Battery Modeling Engineer to develop our
> beginning of life and degradation cell physics models.
>
> . . .  
> Compensation \$128.7K -- \$159.7K

Also an experimental role, which overlaps *a lot* with my skills...
[\[1\]]{.citation cites="formene"}

What an eye-wateringly high salary 😅 it might even be a fun team/viable
tech, but I remain to be convinced on the latter, and I would rather
work on [open-source batteries](https://fbrc.dev/) than closed,
proprietary solutions. Better for my mental health to be out of
corporate tech America, if not for my bank account. Sometimes I wonder
am I shooting myself in the foot by not "selling out" and going to
industry, even for just a little bit . . . but I do believe in golden
handcuffs, so there. *(if you would like to support my open,
non-proprietary R&D, you can help me
[directly](https://liberapay.com/kirksmith/) or [my current
project](https://opencollective.com/fbrc)! I'll be quitting my postdoc
to go full-time as an independent researchers in October)*
:::

:::: {#they-have-a-patent-for-a-moving-seal .section .level3}
### They have a patent for a MOVING SEAL {anchor-id="they-have-a-patent-for-a-moving-seal"}

I actually got this update since I have a paper alert for Jarrod
Milshstein, whose thesis I relied upon heavily during my own PhD. He's
done some great work and his presence at Form gives me confidence in
their team, despite my previous tone would could be interpreted by some
as pessimistic.

For a 20-year, cheap and low-maintenance energy storage solution,
however, the patent titled "Rolling Diaphragm Seal" does not instill me
with confidence. Seals and joints, especially moving ones, are notorious
trouble spots.

> Abstract: Systems and methods of the various embodiments may provide a
> battery including a rolling diaphragm configured to move to
> accommodate an internal volume change of one or more components of the
> battery. Systems and methods of the various embodiments may provide a
> battery housing including a rolling diaphragm seal disposed between an
> interior volume of the battery and an electrode assembly within the
> battery. Various embodiments may provide an air electrode assembly
> including an air electrode supported on a buoyant platform such that
> the air electrode is above a surface of a volume of electrolyte when
> the buoyant platform is floating in the electrolyte.

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-2/images/paste-1.png"
class="img-fluid figure-img" width="800" alt="Patent drawing" /></p>
<figcaption>Schematic from the patent</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

But again, as always... I wish them the best and I hope it works!
Society could certainly use it.

[\[2\]]{.citation cites="westwood2024"}
::::

::: {#they-might-be-pivoting-to-steel-production .section .level3}
### They might be pivoting to steel production... {anchor-id="they-might-be-pivoting-to-steel-production"}

They received \$1,000,000 to work on (alkaline?) echem steel production
in the ARPA-E ROSIE program. [\[3\]]{.citation cites="pressre2024"}

> **Form Energy (Somerville, MA)** will leverage its patent-pending
> breakthrough to directly produce iron powders from alkaline iron ore
> slurries in a first-of-a-kind powder-to-powder process. Using
> domestically available iron ore feedstocks, the process has the
> potential to produce greenhouse gas emission-free iron at cost parity
> with today's carbon-intensive ironmaking methods.

I've heard, from a knowledgeable yet likely biased source, that one
drawback of a process that produces an iron powder is that you still
need to remelt it at high temperature (*e.g.* chuck it into an
electric-arc furnace) to get to the same intermediate (pig?) iron, which
is very energy intensive. So it's not necessarily an immediate obvious
improvement compared to other non-directly CO~2~-emitting iron ore
reduction technologies.
:::
::::::::

::: {#quino-energy-has-10-kw-100-kwh-organic-rfb-partnering-with-electrosynthesis-company .section .level2}
## Quino Energy has 10 kW / 100 kWh organic RFB, partnering with Electrosynthesis Company {anchor-id="quino-energy-has-10-kw-100-kwh-organic-rfb-partnering-with-electrosynthesis-company"}

> . . . a company developing water-based organic flow batteries
> originally invented at Harvard University, announced its 10 kW / 100
> kWh prototype is now operational, using material produced using its
> zero-waste, continuous flow production process that achieved
> [Manufacturing Readiness Level 7
> (MRL)](https://quinoenergy.com/quino-energy-achieves-manufacturing-readiness-level-7-for-its-first-of-its-kind-zero-waste-continuous-production-organic-flow-battery-process/)
> earlier this year. The Company also shared plans to expand its
> production footprint into the European Union and prioritize field
> pilot development and commercial sales on a global scale . . .
>
>   
> . . . [6 kW / 24
> kWh](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quinoenergy_energystorage-flowbattery-gridstorage-activity-7206331213442105344-SmCv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop)
> pilot system and two other [1.5 kW / 6
> kWh](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quinoenergy_energystorage-batteries-batterystorage-activity-7166431448688754688-Pkmt/)systems
> currently operating . . .  
>   
> . . . first real example of U.S. domestic manufacturing of flow
> battery active material, and is a testament to how easily Quino
> Energy's innovative zero-waste production process can be scaled up to
> achieve lower costs. With the average household in America using
> approximately [29
> kWh](https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricity-use-in-homes.php)
> of electricity per day, Quino's 100 kWh pilot can supply a home's
> entire electricity needs for more than three whole days or three homes
> for one day. This is an energy storage capacity roughly equivalent to
> more than seven fully-charged Tesla Powerwalls combined . . .
> [\[4\]]{.citation cites="energy2024"}

This is tech from the Aziz group at Harvard. Pretty cool to see their
rapid progress! I agree with the decision to use existing stack tech and
not reinvent the wheel. Keen to see cost and lifetime data. I reckon the
system relies on ion-exchange membranes, and is asymmetric. Wishing them
continued success.

P.S. definitely easier than inventing new technology---reduce that
enormous per-US-household average consumption of 29 kWh! Still looking
for an idiom to express the gist of "reduce consumption to reasonable
levels before pinning hopes on yet-undeveloped future technologies."
Shout if you have something for this.

*I am attempting the [100 Days To
Offload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge, and this is post
\#10.*
:::

::::::::::::::::::::::: {#quarto-appendix .default}
:::::::::::::::: {#quarto-bibliography .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## References {#references .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

::::::::::::::: {#refs .references .csl-bib-body entry-spacing="0"}
::::: {#ref-formene .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[1\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
Form energy - senior battery engineer, (n.d.).
<https://formenergy.com/careers/open-jobs/>.
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-westwood2024 .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[2\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
M.T. Westwood, A.H. Slocum, W.H. Woodford, Y. Chiang, I.S. Mckay, M.C.
Jaramillo, E. Weber, J.D. Milshtein, L. SU, R. Chakraborty, R.E. Mumma,
M. Goulet, B. Beggan, M. Ferrara, T.A. Wiley, Rolling diaphragm seal,
(2024). <https://www.freepatentsonline.com/20240145827.html>.
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-pressre2024 .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[3\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
Press Release \| arpa-e.energy.gov, (2024).
<http://arpa-e.energy.gov/news-and-media/press-releases/us-department-energy-announces-28-million-decarbonize-domestic-iron>.
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-energy2024 .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[4\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
Q. Energy, Quino energy announces 100kWh pilot and plans for global
expansion, (2024).
<https://quinoenergy.com/quino-energy-announces-100kwh-pilot-and-plans-for-global-expansion/>.
:::
:::::
:::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::

:::::::: {#quarto-citation .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## Citation {#citation .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

<div>

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
BibTeX citation:
:::

``` {.sourceCode .code-with-copy .quarto-appendix-bibtex}
@online{pollard_smith2024,
  author = {Pollard Smith, Kirk},
  title = {The {Flowdown} \#2},
  date = {2024-05-04},
  url = {https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-2},
  langid = {en}
}
```

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
:::

:::: {#ref-pollard_smith2024 .csl-entry .quarto-appendix-citeas}
<div>

K. Pollard Smith, The Flowdown \#2, (2024).
<https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-2>.

</div>
::::

</div>
::::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::::


I sip slowly from the information firehose that is my cornucopia of
industry newsletters, RSS feeds, and Google Scholar updates on new
publications in the flow battery landscape. There's not enough time to
give everything a proper read, and often if I see something useful I
just file it away in Zotero for it to collect digital dust. I want to
try to more regularly share my initial takes as these developments cross
my radar, so that I can discuss them more widely with folks, write more,
and understand these developments more deeply.

"Flowdown"... get it ... "The Flow Battery Lowdown" ... anyways...

:::: {#cmblus-flow-battery-has-solids-in-the-tanks .section .level2}
## CMBlu's flow battery has solids in the tanks {anchor-id="cmblus-flow-battery-has-solids-in-the-tanks"}

That sounds like someone has been struggling with adequate practical
energy density/active material solubility. As reported by Brian Martucci
at *Utility Dive* [\[1\]]{.citation cites="cmblus"}, quoting the
company's CEO:

> The battery's active chemistry is a "hydrocarbon polymer chain that is
> conductive," Damato said.
>
> . . .
>
> The second twist is the presence of "stationary solids in the energy
> storage tank," which no other flow battery has, Damato said. The
> solids dramatically increase energy density by allowing "more surface
> area on the chemicals themselves and more ions per liter inside the
> tank," ultimately achieving per-square-foot energy densities on par
> with [Tesla's lithium-ion Megapack
> battery](https://www.tesla.com/megapack), he said.

I am skeptical of the "solid-booster"/"redox-targeting" approach, but if
it works, it works. I haven't dug into CMBlu's technology before, I
assumed they were licensing the alkaline quinone/ferricyanide technology
from the [Aziz Group](https://aziz.seas.harvard.edu/) at Harvard, but
haven't verified this. A look at their patent literature would be
instructive. Maybe they truly are all-organic and don't use
ferrocyanide.

![Image from linked article of a flow battery at a
tradeshow](https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1/images/paste-1-1600w.webp){.img-fluid
style="aspect-ratio: 1600 / 900"
srcset="images/paste-1-1600w.webp 1600w, images/paste-1-800w.webp 800w, images/paste-1-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"}

The company's website has some nice pictures of their stack, too
(following photos from their website): [\[2\]]{.citation
cites="organic2024"}

![Picture of a flow battery stack from
CMBlu](https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1/images/paste-2-500w.webp){.img-fluid
style="aspect-ratio: 500 / 500"
srcset="images/paste-2-500w.webp 500w, images/paste-2-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="500"}

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1600 / 1067"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1/images/paste-3-1600w.webp"
class="img-fluid figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-3-1600w.webp 1600w, images/paste-3-800w.webp 800w, images/paste-3-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="Close-up photo of the top of a flow battery stack" /></p>
<figcaption>Is that plywood or some other cellulosic laminate being used
as a compression plate? Nice!</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

Flow batteries are already complicated systems, and adding more custom
materials to the mix and managing dissolution kinetics and matching of
redox potentials just sounds like a headache and less elegant system. To
get into the details, one would have to dive into their patents, seems
like [\[3\]]{.citation cites="baal2023"} would be a good place to start.

![Schematic of a flow battery with solid
boosters](https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1/images/paste-4-902w.webp){.img-fluid
style="aspect-ratio: 902 / 685"
srcset="images/paste-4-400w.webp 400w, images/paste-4-902w.webp 902w, images/paste-4-800w.webp 800w"
decoding="async" width="800"}

As always, I wish them the best technical success, if they can crack
long-duration energy storage with sustainable supply chains, that's
great.
::::

::: {#a-big-stack-for-an-academic-lab-hybrid-asymmetric-zinc-ferrocyanide-rfb-paper .section .level2}
## A big stack for an academic lab: hybrid asymmetric Zinc-Ferrocyanide RFB paper {anchor-id="a-big-stack-for-an-academic-lab-hybrid-asymmetric-zinc-ferrocyanide-rfb-paper"}

From the supporting information of [\[4\]]{.citation cites="zhi"}:

> **The ASZIFB cell stack.**  
>   
> A hundred-watt level cell stack was assembled to study the stability
> and practicality of the alkalescent electrolyte. The cell stack is
> composed of ten single cells pressed together. The effective electrode
> area of each single cell is 1000 cm2. The single cell consists of two
> carbon felt electrodes, a homemade carbon-plastic bipolar plate, PVC
> frames and gaskets, with the electrodes separated on both sides by the
> membrane. The \~60 L of 0.6 mol L-1 EDTA+ 0.6 mol L-1 ZnBr2 at pH=12
> and \~90 L of 0.8 mol L-1 Fe(CN)64- at pH=12 are used as anolyte and
> catholyte, respectively. The stack is charged at 40 mA cm-2 for 2
> hours and discharged at 40 mA cm-2 with a cut-off voltage of 8 V

1000 cm^2^ for an academic study is a big cell. No details on the stack
beyond this though. Also, homemade bipolar plates! Pretty cool.

From their abstract:

> Using a chelating agent to rearrange ferri/ferro-cyanide ion-solvent
> interactions and improve salt dissociation, we increased the
> solubility of ferri/ferro-cyanide to 1.7 mol L-1 and prevented zinc
> dendrites. Our battery has an energy density of \~74 Wh L-1 at 60 C
> and remains stable for 1800 cycles (1800 hours) at 0 C and for \>1400
> cycles (2300 hours) at 25 C. An alkalescent zinc-ferricyanide cell
> stack built using this alkalescent electrolyte stably delivers 608 W
> of power for \~40 days.

That's not shabby. The ferri/ferrocyanide couple can have some weird
behavior on long timescales, if I understand correctly in part due to
shedding of cyanide ligands. A kicker for this system (for me) is it's
asymmetric nature. It requires a high-performance ion-exchange membrane
to keep the positive and negative sides separated for a very long time.
These membranes are never perfect and always allow some extend of
crossover, which leads to irreversible capacity loss and sometimes
additional issues.

I think a more robust solution can be found in symmetric systems, or
systems with identical electrolyte compositions in the positive and
negative tanks in the discharged state. This allows one to use a porous
separator, like the super-cheap ones in lead-acid or Li-ion
batteries---even just using paper. This type of approach is what we are
trying to do at <https://fbrc.dev>.

*I am attempting the [100 Days To
Offload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge, and this is post
\#9.*
:::

::::::::::::::::::::::: {#quarto-appendix .default}
:::::::::::::::: {#quarto-bibliography .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## References {#references .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

::::::::::::::: {#refs .references .csl-bib-body entry-spacing="0"}
::::: {#ref-cmblus .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[1\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
CMBlu's batteries competitive with [Li-ion]{.nocase} after 5 hours, but
more data, experience needed: US head, Utility Dive (2024).
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-organic2024 .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[2\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
Organic SolidFlow Battery Technology \| CMBlu Energy AG, (2024).
<https://www.cmblu.com/en/technology/>.
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-baal2023 .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[3\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
E. BAAL, O. EKKERT, P. Geigle, M.R. HARTMANN, N.-J. KNEUSELS, E.
LARIONOV, D. NEUMANN, C. Schneider, M. UNKRIG-BAU, N. Wedler, Aqueous
energy storage system for redox flow batteries, (2023).
<https://patents.google.com/patent/AU2021405822A1/en?q=(solid)&assignee=cmblu&oq=cmblu+solid&sort=new>.
:::
:::::

::::: {#ref-zhi .csl-entry}
::: {.csl-left-margin}
\[4\]
:::

::: {.csl-right-inline}
L. Zhi, C. Liao, P. Xu, F. Sun, F. Fan, G. Li, Z. Yuan, X. Li, New
Alkalescent Electrolyte Chemistry for Zinc-Ferricyanide Flow Battery,
Angewandte Chemie International Edition n/a (n.d.) e202403607.
https://doi.org/[10.1002/anie.202403607](https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202403607).
:::
:::::
:::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::

:::::::: {#quarto-citation .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## Citation {#citation .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

<div>

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
BibTeX citation:
:::

``` {.sourceCode .code-with-copy .quarto-appendix-bibtex}
@online{pollard_smith2024,
  author = {Pollard Smith, Kirk},
  title = {The {Flowdown} \#1},
  date = {2024-05-04},
  url = {https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1},
  langid = {en}
}
```

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
:::

:::: {#ref-pollard_smith2024 .csl-entry .quarto-appendix-citeas}
<div>

K. Pollard Smith, The Flowdown \#1, (2024).
<https://dualpower.supply/posts/flowdown-1>.

</div>
::::

</div>
::::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::::


My collaborator Daniel shared an update on his
[blog](https://chemisting.com/2024/03/15/an-open-source-diy-flow-battery/)
about our the progress of our open-source flow battery kit, so I thought
I'd do the same. This was motivated by my previous post [(Smith
2024)]{.citation cites="smith2024"}. We've been working together with
Prof Sanli Faez and Josh Hausener at Utrecht University on their [FAIR
Battery Project](https://github.com/SanliFaez/FAIR-Battery), though the
repository for my cell design and jig is currently
[here](https://codeberg.org/kirkpsmith/RFB-dev-kit). Daniel and I are
contributing as independent scientists on our own time in our own
abodes.

I recently finished some preliminary renderings of the cell shown here:

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1920 / 1080"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/exploded-1600w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/exploded-1600w.webp 1600w, images/exploded-800w.webp 800w, images/exploded-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800" alt="Exploded view of the cell" /></p>
<figcaption>Exploded view of the cell</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1920 / 1080"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/front-1600w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/front-1600w.webp 1600w, images/front-800w.webp 800w, images/front-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="Front view of the cell in jig with reservoirs, pumps, tubing" /></p>
<figcaption>Front view of the cell in jig with reservoirs, pumps,
tubing</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1920 / 1080"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/back-1600w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/back-1600w.webp 1600w, images/back-800w.webp 800w, images/back-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="Rear view of the jig showing fixtures for Arduino UNO R3 and a L298N motor driver" /></p>
<figcaption>Rear view of the jig showing fixtures for Arduino UNO R3 and
a L298N motor driver</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

Daniel has mostly worked on optimizing a suitable zinc-iodine chemistry
and choosing some widely available, affordable materials to build the
cell with. I've worked mostly on the cell design and CAD.

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1024 / 576"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/paste-1-1024w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-1-1024w.webp 1024w, images/paste-1-800w.webp 800w, images/paste-1-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="Daniel&#39;s photo and caption: A polypropylene FDM printed prototype being tested with Mn/Fe chemistry. This particular test was done without reservoirs, on close circuit circulation to easily detect any leaking." /></p>
<figcaption>Daniel’s photo and caption: A polypropylene FDM printed
prototype being tested with Mn/Fe chemistry. This particular test was
done without reservoirs, on close circuit circulation to easily detect
any leaking.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1024 / 576"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/paste-2-1024w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-2-1024w.webp 1024w, images/paste-2-800w.webp 800w, images/paste-2-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="Daniel&#39;s photo and caption: Image of one of our latest prototypes. This features polypropylene FDM printed reservoirs, a resin printed cell body and a PLA FDM printed jig." /></p>
<figcaption>Daniel’s photo and caption: Image of one of our latest
prototypes. This features polypropylene FDM printed reservoirs, a resin
printed cell body and a PLA FDM printed jig.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

For some scientists doing flow battery experiments in their respective
homes/apartments, we've got some solid preliminary results--- not bad in
terms of capacity and efficiency, in the sense that we are in the right
order of magnitude of real-world electrolytes here, and we're using
paper instead of an ion-exchange membrane!

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 770 / 938"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/rfb-kit-workshop/images/paste-3-770w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-3-770w.webp 770w, images/paste-3-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="800"
alt="From Daniel&#39;s blog: Charge/discharge cycle using photopaper separators and the Zn-I chemistry using the open source flow battery design." /></p>
<figcaption>From Daniel’s blog: Charge/discharge cycle using photopaper
separators and the Zn-I chemistry using the open source flow battery
design.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

From Daniel:

> Our design will be presented at the Flow4UBattery Event in Eindhoven,
> Netherlands, on April 8-9, 2024. [You can register here for
> free](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/flow4ubattery-event-pioneering-energy-storage-solutions-tickets-851447120257?aff=oddtdtcreator),
> which also includes complimentary lunch (so please make sure you
> intend to attend if you subscribe). Day 2 of the event will feature a
> workshop where participants can assemble a flow battery themselves
> using the design from our kit. Additionally, we'll be giving away 5
> complete kits during the event, each including mystat potentiostats.
> We'll also have a fully assembled kit doing cycling so that you can
> see the fully assembled kit in action!
>
> After this event, we will look into selling these kits online, with
> all proceeds going towards the development of higher capacity kits
> with the objective of reaching an open source flow battery stack
> within the next 2 years. We will also be publishing the full designs
> and bill of materials online, so that anyone can create their own too!

::::: {#references .section .level3}
### References {anchor-id="references"}

:::: {#refs .references .csl-bib-body .hanging-indent entry-spacing="0"}
::: {#ref-smith2024 .csl-entry}
Smith, Kirk Pollard. 2024. "Motivation for an Open-Source Flow Battery."
<https://dualpower.supply/posts/motivation-OSHW-RFB/>.
:::
::::

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*I am attempting the [100 Days To
Offload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge, and this is post
\#3.*
:::::

:::::: {#quarto-appendix .default}
::::: {#quarto-reuse .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## Reuse {#reuse .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

:::: {.quarto-appendix-contents}
<div>

[CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/){rel="license"}

</div>
::::
:::::
::::::


*Towards the end of 2022 I drafted this, consider it a work in
progress - it was before I had joined forces with
[Daniel](https://chemisting.com/) to form the [Flow Battery Research
Collective](https://opencollective.com/fbrc)*

------------------------------------------------------------------------

:::::: {#motivation-for-an-open-source-flow-battery .section .level1}
# Motivation for an open-source flow battery

**This project aims to develop an open-source flow battery design
suitable for mid-scale manufacturing by a well-equipped hackerspace or
conventional machine shop. The design will incorporate principles from
the appropriate technology movement and derisk suitable flow battery
technologies from literature while communicating the science in lay
terms. Inspiration is taken from the Piggott small wind turbine design
and applied to stationary electrochemical energy storage.**

The energy transition is underway and demand for sustainable,
affordable, long-lasting energy storage capacity has never been higher.
Despite large individual and community-level interest in flow batteries
as a prospective technology that could address this demand, they have
largely failed to live up to their hype. Furthermore, unlike
lithium-ion, lead-acid, solar, and [small
wind](https://windempowerment.org/) technologies, flow batteries remain
outside the capabilities of enterprising individuals to design and build
their own energy infrastructure in an affordable fashion. This project
plans to change that and democratize flow battery technology, moving
specialized knowledge of their design and manufacture into the public
domain.

::: {#why-are-flow-batteries-worth-developing .section .level2}
## Why are flow batteries worth developing? {anchor-id="why-are-flow-batteries-worth-developing"}

Lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries are manufactured at the highest
industrial scale. The main use case envisioned for this project is
distributed stationary energy storage on the 10 kWh scale (roughly) for
off-grid use, load shifting, and arbitrage. Lead-acid and lithium-ion
are already fit for this purpose, so why bother with flow batteries?
Briefly, lead-acid batteries are affordable, and sustainable by some
metrics, but can require maintenance, and degrade within years of
regular deep cycling requiring tedious replacement procedures.
Lithium-ion is capable of more cycles at deeper depths-of-discharge than
lead-acid with zero maintenance, but at greater initial expense and
eventual capacity decline/replacement---and has concerns regarding
supply chain sustainability. Also, lithium-ion has flammability risks
whereas lead-acid does not.

Flow batteries, in this application of distributed, small-scale
stationary energy storage, could offer a cheaper initial capital
expenditure (*vs.* lithium-ion certainly), order of magnitude longer
cycle/service life, and sustainable supply chain. This project is
motivated by the promise of a cheap, long-lasting, sustainable,
appropriate technology solution to distributed small-scale stationary
energy storage.
:::

:::: {#why-you-cant-buy-a-flow-battery-today .section .level2}
## Why you can't buy a flow battery today {anchor-id="why-you-cant-buy-a-flow-battery-today"}

Flow batteries have existed for decades longer than the modern
lithium-ion battery, yet a regular consumer or small enterprise cannot
easily obtain a quote for one, much less go on to purchase one. Flow
batteries have been highly publicized in recent years, and like
hydrogen, fuel cells, fusion power, *etc*, many promoters of these
technologies have overpromised and underdelivered. Flow batteries have
not yet reached their promise of ultra-long-life, affordable energy
storage.

Furthermore, the technology development deadlines allowed and the
financial returns demanded by venture capital-backed startups in energy
storage have largely led to the abandonment of the residential market,
shifting focus to larger-scale commercial and industrial applications.
This is partly due to the higher proportion of soft costs inherent to
residential installations *vs.* commercial or industrial clients.
Additionally, to install such a chemical battery in a residential
setting would be subject to the strictest consumer health and safety
regulations, pushing early-stage stationary storage companies away from
the residential market and into telecoms and remote power applications
as their "beachhead market." Finally, the market "need" for grid-scale
electrochemical energy storage is still developing, and some commercial
attempts at flow batteries were simply ahead of their time and ran out
of financing runway (see 90s and early 00s-era iron-chromium commercial
attempts).

This failure to deliver as initially promised, however, is often not for
technological failure---market timing and business strategy are key to
proper execution, and firms attempting to commercialize emerging
technology must cope with many non-technical destabilizing factors while
simultaneously scaling up technological maturity. The market for
portable electronics provided ample resources for industry to develop
lithium-ion cells---both capital for R&D, and the relatively small
energy capacity of portable electronics allowing for many more "widgets"
to be produced. The instrinsic small size of batteries in portable
electronics allowed the lithium-ion battery industry's learning rate to
benefit from an "economy of volume," as discussed by [(Nussey
2021)]{.citation cites="nussey2021"}. Flow batteries, in contrast, have
suffered the same fate as nuclear energy, in the sense that their
respective industries have not been able to learn and improve over such
a high number of iterations; the technologies have been low-volume,
highly custom, and slow to build.

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 499 / 353"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/motivation-OSHW-RFB/images/paste-1-499w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-1-499w.webp 499w, images/paste-1-400w.webp 400w"
decoding="async" width="600"
alt="Figure from Malhotra and Schmidt 2020, showing degree of design complexity vs need for customization" /></p>
<figcaption>Figure from Malhotra and Schmidt 2020.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

[This
figure](https://www.cell.com/cms/attachment/bc1731bb-5bba-44de-9867-470f2d67d8d6/gr1.jpg)
from [(Malhotra and Schmidt 2020)]{.citation cites="malhotra2020"} shows
how flow batteries are currently still design-intensive and customized -
closer to a Type 3 technology than Type 1. This project will attempt to
push towards a standardized open-source design for at least some of the
component technologies.

Little academic research explores flow batteries above the benchtop
scale. Promising technological developments often get sucked into
universities' Technology Transfer Offices for opportunities to license,
spinout, and otherwise commercialize the work, even if the technology is
extremely early-stage. Many flow battery startups then, in
market-competitive, non-collaborative silos, simultaneously reinvent the
wheels of process scaleup, stack design, shunt current control, *etc*.
If they fail, the knowledge they gained often vanishes along with the
company.

The goal of this present effort is to pick a suitable flow battery
chemistry and develop it to the highest possible level in the most
transparent fashion. An ideal outcome would be delivering an appropriate
stationary energy storage solution into the lay, public domain---the
Piggott small wind turbine design is an aspirational example, though may
prove a difficult goal.
::::
::::::

::::::::::: {#which-chemistry-to-pick-applying-some-initial-constraints .section .level1}
# Which chemistry to pick? Applying some initial constraints

:::::::::: {#rigorous-justification-work-in-progress .section .level2}
## Rigorous justification (work-in-progress) {anchor-id="rigorous-justification-work-in-progress"}

There are many flow battery chemistries to choose from. The concept of
[appropriate
technology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology) is
used here to help downselect from the many chemistries and component
options available. Some upfront design heuristics/principles result:

1.  safety is paramount: water-based, nonflammable electrolyte
2.  avoiding the requirement of a ion-exchange membrane
3.  no precious metals (ideally no need for catalysts at all)
4.  prioritizing elements in plentiful supply as defined by the
    [European Chemical
    Society](https://www.euchems.eu/euchems-periodic-table/)
5.  prioritizing passive over active design features
6.  designing for long cycle life
7.  designing for recyclability at end-of-life (compatability with the
    circular economy)
8.  minimize the use of heavy equipment for installation
9.  design for manufacturing by a regular machine shop

::: {.quarto-figure .quarto-figure-center style="aspect-ratio: 1197 / 849"}
<figure class="figure">
<p><img
src="https://dualpower.supply/posts/motivation-OSHW-RFB/images/paste-3-1197w.webp"
class="figure-img"
srcset="images/paste-3-1197w.webp 1197w, images/paste-3-400w.webp 400w, images/paste-3-800w.webp 800w"
decoding="async" width="600"
alt="EU Chemical Society periodic table of elements, considering sustainability" /></p>
<figcaption>EU Chemical Society periodic table of elements, considering
sustainability</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

[(Noack et al. 2015)]{.citation cites="noack2015"} provide a thorough
review of flow battery chemistries and presents the available
chemistries to choose from.

::: {#incomplete-list-of-explanations .section .level3}
### Incomplete list of explanations {anchor-id="incomplete-list-of-explanations"}

Nonaqueous approaches are excluded under heuristic 1. Vanadium, the most
common commercial chemistry, is not viable under heuristic 4.
"Air-breathing" chemistries---such as zinc-air or iron-air, which
utilize one or more oxygen electrodes---are also not possible without
technically risky and sometimes precious-metal catalyst structures, so
they are exluded based on heuristic 3. The iron-chromium chemistry is
also excluded based on limited availability of chromium based on
heuristic 4. Bromine and pure hydrogen are a safety concern.
:::

::::::: {#references .section .level3}
### References {anchor-id="references"}

:::::: {#refs .references .csl-bib-body .hanging-indent entry-spacing="0"}
::: {#ref-malhotra2020 .csl-entry}
Malhotra, Abhishek, and Tobias S. Schmidt. 2020. "Accelerating
Low-Carbon Innovation." *Joule* 4 (11): 2259--67.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.09.004>.
:::

::: {#ref-noack2015 .csl-entry}
Noack, Jens, Nataliya Roznyatovskaya, Tatjana Herr, and Peter Fischer.
2015. "The Chemistry of Redox-Flow Batteries." *Angewandte Chemie -
International Edition* 54 (34): 9776--9809.
<https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201410823>.
:::

::: {#ref-nussey2021 .csl-entry}
Nussey, Bill. 2021. *Freeing energy: how innovators are using
local-scale solar and batteries to disrupt the global energy industry
from the outside in*. s.l.: Mountain Ambler Publishing.
:::
::::::

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*This concludes my draft motivation/manifesto for an open-source flow
battery. It's currently a side project of mine. I am attempting the [100
Days To Offload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge, and this is
post \#1.*
:::::::
::::::::::
:::::::::::

::::::::::: {#quarto-appendix .default}
::::: {#quarto-reuse .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## Reuse {#reuse .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

:::: {.quarto-appendix-contents}
<div>

[CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/){rel="license"}

</div>
::::
:::::

::::::: {#quarto-citation .section .quarto-appendix-contents}
## Citation {#citation .anchored .quarto-appendix-heading}

<div>

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
BibTeX citation:
:::

``` {.sourceCode .code-with-copy .quarto-appendix-bibtex}
@online{pollard smith2024,
  author = {Pollard Smith, Kirk},
  title = {Motivation for an Open-Source Flow Battery},
  date = {2024-02-26},
  url = {https://dualpower.supply/posts/motivation-OSHW-RFB},
  doi = {10.59350/fknwy-k7a54},
  langid = {en}
}
```

::: {.quarto-appendix-secondary-label}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
:::

::: {#ref-pollard smith2024 .csl-entry .quarto-appendix-citeas}
Pollard Smith, Kirk. 2024. "Motivation for an Open-Source Flow Battery."
February 26, 2024. <https://doi.org/10.59350/fknwy-k7a54>.
:::

</div>
:::::::
:::::::::::
