Chemical Engineering June 2020 - 11

Commercial-scale deployment of
sodium-ion battery technology
A
lthough Li-ion batteries
are currently the dominant
technology in the rechargeable-battery
sector,
sodium-ion
(Na-ion) batteries possess
many benefits in terms of sustainability,
safety and costs, and are
poised to greatly expand their commercial
usage. Na-ion battery specialist
Faradion Ltd. (Sheffield, U.K.;
www.faradion.co.uk) - in its largest
commercial deployment ever - will
provide Na-ion batteries for energystorage
applications in Australia.
Previously, the company had undertaken
several prototype demonstrations,
including electric bikes,
golf carts and small-scale domestic
storage applications, but the project
in Australia represents a larger
magnitude for Faradion's Na-ion
technology, explains Jerry Barker,
chief technology officer and cofounder
of Faradion.
" Our cell chemistry is based on
a proprietary Na-layered oxide
cathode. This chemistry provides
a world-leading cell specific energy
of 150-160 Wh/kg, " says Barker,
adding that the company expects
to generate cells with greater than
190 Wh/kg specific energy within
the next 9 months. Another benefit
of Faradion's batteries is that
they can be produced on existing
Li-ion manufacturing lines. Faradion
has worked closely with Haldor
Topsoe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark;
www.topsoe.com) in scaling up its
proprietary cathode material. With
comparable cycling and temperature
performance, Na-ion batteries
also provide improved thermal stability
and safety when compared
to conventional Li-ion batteries -
Faradion has patented a method
for the transportation and storage
of Na-ion cells wherein cells can be
transported without the risk of overheating
or exploding. Faradion's
batteries are anticipated to enter the
Australian market later this year. n
sults of the initial trials, Krajete GmbH now plans to
build a larger system that can filter 25,000 m3/h of air.
The system will be installed shortly, and the findings
from its operation will feed into further development.
metals from low-grade ores
Critical and economically significant metals, such
as cobalt and nickel, can be recovered profitably
from metal-refining wastes and ores with lower-thanusual
concentrations. This was demonstrated by an
E.U. project coordinated by VTT Technical Research
Center of Finland (Espoo; www.vttresearch.com),
which developed new, and combined existing, recovery
methods. The recently completed, four-year
MetGrow+ project had a budget of €7.9 million, and
participants from 19 companies, research organizations
and universities from nine E.U. countries.
Various stakeholders interested in using low-grade
ores and waste can evaluate the valorization of rawmaterial
streams with the webtool developed in the
project. The MetGrow Calculator aims to support decision-making
by mines, mining-technology developers,
recyclers and others. The user can enter, for example,
local laterite ore or jarosite from the zinc industry as a
raw material and assess the options for utilizing the raw
material stream at local waste and energy prices.
In the project, ways were found to increase Europe's
self-sufficiency as far as cobalt, nickel and
zinc are concerned, for example, by 10-20% using
just the material streams studied in the project. The
developed methods can additionally be used to recover
metals from other material streams.
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11
http://www.vttresearch.com http://www.faradion.co.uk http://www.topsoe.com http://www.bronkhorst.com http://adlinks.chemengonline.com/76991-07 http://adlinks.chemengonline.com/76991-16 http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2020
