Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DualFlow (Dual circuit flow battery for hydrogen and value added chemical production)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-10-01 bis 2023-09-30
The EU-funded DualFlow project will introduce a radically new energy conversion and storage concept. The breakthrough idea involves combining battery storage, hydrogen generation and production of useful chemicals into a single hybrid system using water-soluble redox mediators as energy transfer vectors. The system will be used for storing electricity or for converting renewable energy into hydrogen and value-added chemicals. The energy conversion operation will be realised by pumping charged electrolytes through reactors. For hydrogen production, the reactor will be filled with particles to catalyse electron transfer and hydrogen evolution. Ultimately, the production of value-added chemicals will be enabled by a reactor comprising a biphasic system.
Current electrolyzer technologies are designed to be operated 8000 h per year. However, access to a continuous supply of green electricity will be unlikely given the recent trend in the increasing share of intermittent electricity being produced by solar and wind power. Therefore, systems able to flexibly utilize green electricity are a key to resolving this critical issue. Alkaline electrolysis has been optimized for efficient hydrogen production during the last 100 years, utilizing nickel-based catalysts and porous separators, and therefore it is exceedingly difficult to compete with it. Electrolysis produces oxygen, typically vented into the atmosphere, as a side-product and a way to bring down hydrogen cost is to produce added value chemicals instead of oxygen. As the scale of the hydrogen production is immense, the matching reaction on the positive side should also be suitable for large scale operation. DualFlow pursues a novel approach for solving the challenge, by producing hydrogen together with decarbonized chemicals. A hydrogen production unit will be incorporated as an additional part of a flow battery, only utilized when renewable energy is available in large quantities and the battery is fully charged. This means that the reactors where hydrogen production and the corresponding oxidation take place need to be simple and inexpensive, to justify additional costs of the unit that is used only when renewable energy production is high. Such a system will have lower efficiency than a commercial electrolyzer but will allow more flexible operation. Coupled together with production of chemicals, DualFlow will pave the way for a cost-competitive, sustainable, and flexible approach to energy storage and green hydrogen production.
The objectives of DualFlow are to:
1) Realize a proof-of-concept hybridized (alkaline) hydrogen production redox flow battery system. Specifically, DualFlow will demonstrate combined hydrogen production and electricity storage capability on a lab-scale by harnessing abundant and environmentally benign materials.
2) Develop processes to enable production of decarbonized chemicals. Specifically, we will demonstrate the continuous operation of an oxidation process in a biphasic system to produce thin poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films. The developed system will be adaptable to other reactions.
3) Realize a proof-of-concept production of chemicals. Specifically, we will demonstrate production of PEDOT, lidocaine and levetiracetam, and production of nanocellulose via mediated oxidation of cellulose.
Current electrolyzer technologies are designed to be operated 8000 h per year. However, access to a continuous supply of green electricity will be unlikely given the recent trend in the increasing share of intermittent electricity being produced by solar and wind power. Therefore, systems able to flexibly utilize green electricity are a key to resolving this critical issue. Alkaline electrolysis has been optimized for efficient hydrogen production during the last 100 years, utilizing nickel-based catalysts and porous separators, and therefore it is exceedingly difficult to compete with it. Electrolysis produces oxygen, typically vented into the atmosphere, as a side-product and a way to bring down hydrogen cost is to produce added value chemicals instead of oxygen. As the scale of the hydrogen production is immense, the matching reaction on the positive side should also be suitable for large scale operation. DualFlow pursues a novel approach for solving the challenge, by producing hydrogen together with decarbonized chemicals. A hydrogen production unit will be incorporated as an additional part of a flow battery, only utilized when renewable energy is available in large quantities and the battery is fully charged. This means that the reactors where hydrogen production and the corresponding oxidation take place need to be simple and inexpensive, to justify additional costs of the unit that is used only when renewable energy production is high. Such a system will have lower efficiency than a commercial electrolyzer but will allow more flexible operation. Coupled together with production of chemicals, DualFlow will pave the way for a cost-competitive, sustainable, and flexible approach to energy storage and green hydrogen production.
The objectives of DualFlow are to:
1) Realize a proof-of-concept hybridized (alkaline) hydrogen production redox flow battery system. Specifically, DualFlow will demonstrate combined hydrogen production and electricity storage capability on a lab-scale by harnessing abundant and environmentally benign materials.
2) Develop processes to enable production of decarbonized chemicals. Specifically, we will demonstrate the continuous operation of an oxidation process in a biphasic system to produce thin poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films. The developed system will be adaptable to other reactions.
3) Realize a proof-of-concept production of chemicals. Specifically, we will demonstrate production of PEDOT, lidocaine and levetiracetam, and production of nanocellulose via mediated oxidation of cellulose.
DualFlow has focused on development of chemistries for neutral/alkaline flow batteries, benchmarked catalysts for hydrogen evolution as well as developed testing protocols and systems to evaluate the performance of novel hydrogen evolution catalysts developed in DualFlow. Testing protocol for evaluation of redox couples for biphasic production of conductive polymers has been developed, and effects of additives on the film formation have been investigated. Mediated oxidation of bacterial cellulose to produce cellulose nanocrystals as well as mediated oxidation of precursor of levetiracetam have been realized in a batch mode.
DualFlow has advanced beyond the state of the art by developed benchmarking methods to allow comparison of different catalysts for mediated hydrogen evolution as well as evaluating suitability of mediators for preparation of conductive polymers. We have also demonstrated that the proposed concept for production of cellulose nanocrystals and drug precursors are technologically feasible, confirming that the proposed concept shows promise.