I-Corps: Assessment of Commercial Viability of Electrochemical Flow Capacitors for Grid Scale Energy Storage

该创新团队(i-Corps)项目旨在评估一种名为“电化学流动电容器”(EFC)的新储能概念的商业可行性和技术影响。这一新的存储概念结合了超级电容器和液流电池的优点，实现了快速充放电(即高功率密度的快速系统响应)，同时将能量存储与功率输出分离(即可扩展的能量存储)。这项技术的核心是利用可流动的碳浆作为电容存储的活性材料。在技术层面，该小组在该项目中的目标将是继续努力建立必要的使能科学和技术，以解决与流动介质中的电容式电荷存储相关的关键科学空白。在商业化层面，该小组将努力开发一种便携式台式原型，以展示拟议概念和基准性能和成本目标的基本操作。该团队的主要目标将是建立一个精简的技术开发流程，并制定一个强有力的商业案例，使该团队能够获得第三方资金，并与感兴趣的各方建立战略联盟，将这项新技术商业化。快速回收和输送能源对于更好地利用波动的可再生能源以及提高电网效率至关重要。到目前为止，人们非常需要一种大规模的储能系统，能够有效地缓冲能源供需的大而快速的波动。这项拟议的技术在克服与传统技术相关的电网规模储能方面的重大挑战方面具有巨大潜力，能够更好地利用可再生能源，同时使电网更加坚固。因此，从这项工作中获得的新知识预计将对可再生能源这一关键的社会挑战产生重大影响，并将有助于改变目前为解决迅速增长的全球能源问题而采取的做法。此外，这项技术的成功开发可能会导致成立一家初创公司，刺激私人投资，并有助于加强美国在新能源存储技术方面的地位。

This Innovation Corps (I-Corps) project aims to assess the commercial viability and technological impact of a new energy storage concept called "electrochemical flow capacitor" (EFC). This new storage concept takes the advantages of both supercapacitors and flow batteries, and enables rapid charging/discharging (i.e., fast system response with high power density), while decoupling energy storage from the power output (i.e., scalable energy storage). At the core of this technology is the utilization of a flowable carbon slurry as an active material for capacitive storage. At the technical level, the team's goal in this project will be to continue its ongoing efforts in establishing the enabling science and technology necessary to address the critical scientific gaps related to the capacitive charge storage in a flowable media. At the commercialization level, the team's efforts will be placed on developing a portable bench-top prototype to demonstrate the fundamental operation of the proposed concept and benchmark performance and cost targets. The team's main goal will be to establish a streamlined technology development process and formulate a strong business case that will enable the team to secure third-party funding and establish strategic alliances with interested parties for commercialization of this new technology. Rapid energy recovery and delivery is essential to enable better utilization of fluctuating renewable sources, as well as to increase the efficiency of the grid. To date, there is a great need for a large-scale energy storage system that can effectively buffer large and rapid fluctuations in energy supply and demand. The proposed technology has significant potential to overcome the major challenges in grid-scale energy storage associated with conventional technologies, enabling greater utilization of renewable energy sources, while making the electrical grid more robust. Therefore, the new knowledge gained from this work is expected to have a substantial impact on the crucial societal challenge of renewable energy and will help transform the current practices employed to address the rapidly growing global energy issues. Additionally, the successful development of this technology can potentially result in the formation of a start-up company, stimulation of private investments and contribute to strengthening the U.S. position in new energy storage technologies.