UK researchers have investigated the price of a 24V soluble lead stream battery optimized for PV functions. They discovered {that a} complete part value of GBP 50 ($62)/kWh might be achieved, which is half that of present nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion cells.
The soluble lead stream battery (SLFB) is a promising small-scale vitality storage know-how particularly for growing economies, attributable to its stability, a lifetime of 2000 cycles demonstrated on the cell degree. , and the truth that its electrolyte is made immediately from spent lead. acid batteries.
Nevertheless, there’s a want for techno-economic fashions to permit the fee/efficiency of an entire system to be outlined and optimized.
Now, researchers from the College of South Hampton and the College of Sheffield in the UK for the primary time outlined such a mannequin and used it within the design of a 24V system for a charging hub in Sierra Leone.
A 1.64 kW 4 h length system was discovered to be the perfect, earlier than the start of diminishing returns. The simulated effectivity of this technique is 59%.
The researchers discovered that the electrolyte for the three.5 kW/14 kWh system suits right into a 1000 L IBC. Growing the unit measurement from ~ 1.5 kW to ~ 3.75 kW would scale back the price of the IBC from GBP 16/kWh to GBP 7/kWh, they calculated.
Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was discovered to be the biggest value part within the 4-hour system, with graphitic bipolar plates subsequent. Each have low uncooked materials prices, and in an optimistic state of affairs a complete part value of <£50/kWh may be achieved, half of present NMC Li-ion cells.
That’s, the present value of the elements (together with the manufacture of the stack body) is estimated at GBP98 / kWh to GBP 120 / kWh (excluding management and meeting) assuming that the deposit thickness of 1 mm may be reliably achieved. Nevertheless, in response to the researchers, MSA and bipolar plates have the potential for future value reductions as extra environment friendly manufacturing methods have not too long ago been launched.
Due to this fact, the researchers calculated that with diminished MSA and bipolar plate prices, this vary might be as little as £43-£56/kWh, making SLFB cheaper on the DC degree than NMC Li-ion cells. .
The most important danger to the price of the system is the lack to reliably deposit lead and lead oxide to the assumed thickness of 1 mm, with thinner deposits growing part prices and lowering effectivity.
“Because the testing of deposits of this thickness has not been carried out over a number of cycles, there is a crucial hole within the data of SLFB that needs to be addressed in future analysis,” the researchers wrote in “Value prediction of a 24V soluble lead stream battery optimized for PV functions,” not too long ago printed in Journal of Energy Sources.
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