Technology Opportunities

Conveniently treats and regenerates the catalyst employed in the process

Highlights

• The issue of energy storage is critical for renewable energy sources. Both solar and wind technologies are intermittent in nature and a buffer storage system is indispensable.
• Efficient hydrogen storage systems require a high capacity for hydrogen, must be thermodynamically stable, easily reversible and low cost.
• To date, the use of platinum group metal catalysts have made the up-front cost of fuel cells and the refurbishment of the devices over their life far too expensive to be widely adopted.
• This novel process is simpler, more cost effective and environmentally friendly than advanced batteries.

Our Innovation

A hydrogen storage conduit based on concentrated aqueous potassium formate solution with storage capacity of 1kWh/liter. Electricity is converted to hydrogen by electrolysis which, in turn, is transformed into potassium formate using a catalytic hydrogenation process with potassium bicarbonate. When needed, the swift reverse reaction converts the formate into bicarbonate and hydrogen which is fed to a fuel cell to produce electrical power.

Key Features

• Formic acid has the same energy density as liquid hydrogen. Potassium formate solution contains 1kWh/L.
• System has a 95% efficient energy output balance.
• The bicarbonate-formate cycle is thermodynamically reversible under mild conditions.
• Potassium formate and bicarbonate aquatic solutions are stable under standard conditions in the absence of a catalyst.

Development Milestones

The next step is to construct a bench scale 10 kWh demonstration unit and test it over extended periods of continuous charge/discharge cycles.

The Opportunity

• The technology has applications for storage capacity in solar and wind driven power stations, particularly in remote isolated locations such as military installations, as well as in regular power stations in areas where the demand for electricity is fluctuating and a “peak shaving” facility can cut down production costs.
• The energy storage market grew at an annual rate of 11% from $3.2 billion to $4.8 billion in the period 2006 to 2010. The US market alone is forecast to grow at a 27% annually and to reach $2 billion by 2015. (Source: SBI)