A large number of materials from sulfur and sodium to manganese and organic molecules try to overturn Lithium-ion batteries everywhere. And, so far, they have all failed.
Organic batteries are built from some of the most abundant chemicals on the planet, including carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, which is probably the most frustrating failure. They should be cheaper than batteries that use metal today. However, no one can crack organic batteries.
Until now, maybe.
A young startup called XL battery With a new perspective on chemical reactions, it says it should be cheaper, safer, more durable than previous organic batteries, and crucially the lithium-ion battery itself.
“The cost of capital should be super low,” Tom Sisto, co-founder and CEO of XL Battery, told TechCrunch.
Don’t expect to find the company’s products in the next generation of electric vehicles. The liquid used by XL batteries to store electricity is more bulky and heavier than today’s lithium-ion batteries. That’s why the company targets grid-scale storage, which is more concerned with scale, cost, and security than weight or density.
The XL battery installation scale can be super large.
The company specifically told TechCrunch that it has commissioned stolthaven terminala company specializing in petrochemical storage. The first unit will be small, but once kinked, the company can quickly build larger batteries, Sisto said.
Part of the reason why Sisto is so optimistic is that the key component of the battery is nothing more than the storage tank.
“If we accept two [Stolthaven’s] The largest tank, it’s a 700 MW battery,” Sisto said. 25,000 homes All day. “I believe they have 400 tanks on their website in Houston.”
XL batteries are building what is called a flow battery. A basic flow battery consists of two storage tanks connected to a pump that flows two fluids through a membrane. A rechargeable battery pushes ions onto a metaphorical mountain, storing them in one of the fluids. When discharged, these ions flow back to the other side, releasing electrons in the process.
Flow batteries are an ancient technology that was originally invented in the late 1800s. But their bulk and relatively low energy storage made them back. Newer models help increase energy storage, but they are still relatively expensive because the liquids they use are corrosive and require expensive materials for pumps and other equipment.
Organic batteries have been left for a while, but they have proven elusive because when most organic molecules carry extra electrons, they tend to break down quickly. Those who last longer need refrigeration, and even then, they collapsed within a few months, Sisto said.
Even with more stable molecules, Sisto knows that XL batteries must be cheap if the company succeeds. In his study at Columbia University, an organic compound he is investigating breaks the record of the largest number of electrons accepted as a single molecule. At that time, the molecule had to be suspended in an organic solvent, which was expensive and flammable. Ultimately, he and his collaborators were able to stabilize in pH-Neenral water. At that time, he knew they could build a company around it.
One of the devices of the XL battery consists of three parts: a 40-foot transport container and two tanks. The company’s proprietary membranes and other components are suitable for transporting containers, and then attaching one or more of them to the storage tank. The size of the storage tank determines the capacity of the battery, and the number of transport containers determines the speed at which the battery can be charged or discharged.
Since the company uses so much off-the-shelf technology, Sisto says the XL battery can start building larger batteries soon. “Commercial design has been greatly completed,” he said, working with an engineering company that previously designed other flow batteries. “They have all these pieces ready.”
Outside early customers such as Stoltolaven, XL Battery is seeking to work with independent power producers to build batteries to support the grid, especially in Texas, where such devices quickly became commonplace.
“We think the economics at this level of project is very compelling,” Sisto said.
