Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are building a low-cost long-lifespan battery designed for grid-scale stationary energy storage.
The battery, which promises to provide a viable solution for stationary grid storage of energy supplied by renewables, uses three inexpensive liquid layers as electroactive components, including a liquid metal positive electrode, a fused salt electrolyte, and a liquid metal negative electrode. The system operates at elevated temperature maintained by self-heating during charging and discharging.
Professor Donald R Sadoway of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, explains more: “The battery consists of three liquid layers. On top is a low-density metal. On bottom is a high-density metal. In between there is molten salt, not salt dissolved in water but rather salt that has itself melted and turned to liquid. The contiguous layers are insoluble in one another and so they stratify according to density. There is no need for membranes or separators. The battery produces current when the metal on top alloys with the metal on bottom. Recharging the battery causes the metal on bottom to be purified, and sends the metal from the top back to its original location.”
Ambri has a liquid metal battery factory which can produce 20 MWh a year. It only required a few million dollars of capital, one of the advantages Ambri has. A full-size, 500 MWh per year battery factory would only require about $50 million of capital investment.
Ambri has a brochure that describes their technology
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The battery, which promises to provide a viable solution for stationary grid storage of energy supplied by renewables, uses three inexpensive liquid layers as electroactive components, including a liquid metal positive electrode, a fused salt electrolyte, and a liquid metal negative electrode. The system operates at elevated temperature maintained by self-heating during charging and discharging.
Professor Donald R Sadoway of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, explains more: “The battery consists of three liquid layers. On top is a low-density metal. On bottom is a high-density metal. In between there is molten salt, not salt dissolved in water but rather salt that has itself melted and turned to liquid. The contiguous layers are insoluble in one another and so they stratify according to density. There is no need for membranes or separators. The battery produces current when the metal on top alloys with the metal on bottom. Recharging the battery causes the metal on bottom to be purified, and sends the metal from the top back to its original location.”
Ambri has a liquid metal battery factory which can produce 20 MWh a year. It only required a few million dollars of capital, one of the advantages Ambri has. A full-size, 500 MWh per year battery factory would only require about $50 million of capital investment.
Ambri has a brochure that describes their technology
Read more »
