Kemiwatt gives a second energy life to industrial tanks

In a few words, how does a recyclable organic flow battery work and what are its concrete advantages? Our organic flow battery stores energy in molecules dissolved in water. Two liquids, kept in separate tanks, circulate in electrochemical modules called stacks: this is where the battery is charged or the electricity is restored.

For an industrialist, the advantage is to store electricity when it is available or cheaper, then to use it when it is needed, for several hours. We can separately adapt the power and the amount of energy stored. The more liquid we put in the tanks, the more kWh or MWh we obtain and the more stacks we put, the more kW or MW we have.

Our electrolyte is non-flammable and our design uses no rare earths or PFAS. We also plan to recycle electrolytes at the end of their life with a very simple process. Finally, when existing tanks are compatible, we can give them a new energy function because we do not use acid to dissolve the active molecules.

Who are you sending your equipment to and for what uses? Our strategic targets are liquid storage terminals, ports, network managers, energy companies and chemical sites or industrial centers. Their common need is to better manage when they consume or supply electricity.

Concretely, this can be used to power ships at dock, use more local renewable production, reduce peak consumption or help relieve a congested network. We are also exploring opportunities with data centers and battery project developers. Each project is sized according to its needs, with adapted existing tanks, new tanks or reused ISO tank containers.

What is the estimated lifespan for your organic flow batteries? We design our systems for a service life of around twenty years or 20,000 charge/discharge cycles. These two benchmarks must be specified according to the use profile and operating conditions.

You have to think about the entire installation and its maintenance. This does not mean that each component works for twenty years without intervention. Our objective is to offer a sustainable industrial asset, whose maintenance and end of life are anticipated, in particular with the recycling of electrolytes.

Why did you choose to refocus your activity on port tanks? It was the manufacturers themselves who came to see us. Companies that store liquid products in large tanks have asked us if we could transform these tanks into large batteries.

They sought to optimize their use of electricity and respond to network congestion problems. This demand corresponds well to our technology: these players have infrastructure and know-how in liquid management. We have therefore chosen to concentrate our commercial efforts on this concrete application.

Machine-translated from French