Saltwater redox flow battery with integrated ultracapacitor – pv magazine International - pv magazine International

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US-based Salgenx says it has successfully integrated ultracapacitors with its saltwater redox flow batteries, resulting in significantly better power response and system performance.

June 5, 2023 Marija Maisch

US-based startup Salgenx has integrated ultracapacitors with its saltwater redox flow batteries (SRFBs), resulting in enhanced power response, increased efficiency, and improved energy density.

The company unveiled its scalable SRFB earlier this year. The system features two separate tanks of electrolytes, one of which is regular saltwater. It does not use any lithium or vanadium and is membrane-free, unlike other flow batteries, thus promising big gains at the levelized cost of storage level.

The company claims that material costs of $5/kWh, $257kWh for system infrastructure, and a total system cost of $500,000, or $166/kW for the 3,000 kWh battery. The technology purportedly has a life expectancy of more than 25 years and a round trip efficiency of 91% at 10 mA/cm². With 125.7 Wh/L, its energy density outstrips that of most other flow battery solutions available today.

The Salgenx system circulates saltwater and a proprietary electrolyte through electrodes, which regulate the input and output of electricity from the battery. The battery is said to be suitable for an array of applications including grid scale power storage (both standalone or with solar or wind power), demand support, grid arbitrage, microgrid deployment, voltage and frequency regulation, co-generation, electric vehicle charging stations, and desalination, as well as thermal storage.

Now, with the integration of ultracapacitors, SRFBs are expected to deliver even greater benefits. The integrated system is said to ensure rapid power output within milliseconds, compensating for the slower response time of SRFBs and significantly boosting the overall power output of systems.