Grant: CCI Applied Research and Development Grants

Long-duration saltwater flow batteries (LDSFBs) are an emerging renewable energy storage solution, leveraging cost-effective saltwater electrolytes to store and deliver electricity with reduced environmental impact. Aligning with Canada’s aggressive carbon emissions reduction goals of 40-45% by 2030, and net-zero by 2050, LDSFBs are an innovative and sustainable technology for grid electrification, presenting a potential alternative to conventional lithium-ion systems. Ensuring reliable energy storage for various durations, supporting renewable sources like wind and solar by mitigating their inherent intermittency, and offering scalability to meet diverse energy storage needs, LDSFBs offer a solution to three (3) primary electrical grid challenges: (1) Energy supply-demand imbalance, (2) Intermittency of renewable energy generation, and (3) Insufficient infrastructure for growth. Aqua-Cell Energy Inc., a local Albertan business, is pioneering a novel LDSFB system suitable for a range of industry applications, with storage capacities of 0.25-10 MW, discharge times of 12-48 hours, and operable in temperatures from -30°C to 40°C. Their proprietary LDSFB technology uniquely implements a bipolar electrodialysis (BPED) process, involving the movement of ions through ion-exchange membranes under the influence of an electric field. Recently, Aqua-Cell has encountered LDSFB salt ion leakage problems due to shunt current occurrences during BPED. Addressing this final scale-up challenge is paramount for Aqua-Cell's LDSFB to meet the demands of the energy sector and contribute to environmental emissions reduction goals. The proposed project entails a partnership between the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)’s Center for System and Sensor Integration (CSSI), Center for Grid Innovation (CGI), and Aqua-Cell Energy Inc. This will be achieved by redesigning the LDSFB’s flow plates to reconfigure electrolyte flow paths and employ ion exchange for salt removal, blocking ionic shunt currents that contribute to battery leakage. Refinement and validation of this innovative renewable energy regeneration system are pivotal to fulfilling the growing demand from distribution grid operators and expediting the industrial commercialization of this environmentally-sound energy storage technology.