Profiled membranes as replacement for non-conducting spacers in a Concentration Gradient Flow Battery

Profiled membranes as replacement for non-conducting spacers in a Concentration Gradient Flow Battery

van der Grinten, Juul (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Wagemaker, M. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Energy Technology

2018-12-17

The number of sustainable electrical energy sources is growing rapidly. These energy sources have a fluctuating and irregular pattern over time. Therefore, electricity storage is needed in the nearby future. The Concentration Gradient Flow Battery (CGFB), which uses the Blue Energy technology as a storage mechanism, has a promising market potential. Advantages among others are low cost and a small impact on the environment. This battery is currently under development by AquaBattery. However, for the CGFB to be cost competitive with other storage technologies, it needs further improvement. A new stack design with integrated profiled membranes may be such an improvement. To research the viability of profiled membranes a Design Science (DS) approach was used. The DS approach distinguishes four phases: conceptualization, experimentation, implementation, and evaluation. The results showed the differences in effects on CGFB performance between the profiled membranes and non-conducting spacers. The profiled membranes were then integrated in a new stack design and experimentally tested on a larger scale. Finally, this thesis formulates guidelines for further research of the CGFB. In doing so, it can help AquaBattery to achieve its goals of making, scaling-up and selling a large amount of batteries in the upcoming years.

Blue Energy
Concentration Gradient Flow Battery
Profiled membranes
Non-conducting spacers
Membranes
CGFB performance
Design Science Research

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7d6e0c9e-3695-4a61-9713-843862d70998

2020-12-17

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Juul van der Grinten