Battery Metals

Chile’s export revenue fell 12% to $5.3 billion in November, the central bank said on Monday, more bad news for an ailing economy hammered by the worst unrest since the South American nation’s return to democracy in 1990.

Weeks of sometimes violent protests, riots, arson and looting have led to at least 26 deaths and billions in losses to private businesses and public infrastructure. The unrest prompted the central bank last week to slash forecasts for growth, investment and demand through 2020.

The bad news for Chile was made worse by falling prices for both copper and lithium. Chile is the world’s top producer of copper, and the No. 2 producer of lithium, both critical building blocks for electric vehicles. Revenue from copper exports plunged 8.7% in November to $2.772 billion, while lithium exports tumbled nearly 6% to $67 million.

The country’s vast copper mines have nonetheless largely maintained output despite more than 50 days of protests. Top lithium producers SQM and Albemarle have also said production had largely been spared.

The second-largest power utility in Japan is extending its trial of a blockchain-powered system for transacting renewable energy credits.

According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 9, the Kansai Electric Power Co Inc (KEPCO) is extending its trial of a blockchain-enabled renewable energy trading platform developed by Australian tech firm Power Ledger.

Decentralizing, decarbonizing

In 2018, Japan was the world’s fifth-largest consumer of electricity, yet produced only 17.5% of its energy from renewable sources.

In May of this year, the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry decided to continue its sale of non-fossil fuel value certificates (NFVs). These provide energy retailers with proof that the portion of energy under the certificate is generated from renewable energy sources.

They can also be used to assess which power plants are contributing the most environmental value in order to encourage investment in green industries and can be traded, similarly to other forms of renewable energy certificates (RECs).

A local report from EKOenergy in March claimed that existing energy certificates and carbon credit systems in Japan remained “complicated and fragmented at best.”

Under the terms of the new agreement, KEPCO will use Power Ledger to create, track, trade and settle NVAs that are generated by rooftop solar systems.

The system uses blockchain technology’s immutable and decentralized properties to track certificates throughout their lifecycle, thereby reducing the potential for duplicate use. Power Ledger generates REC tokens, which are stored in a centralized KEPCO wallet.

An initial successful trial between KEPCO and power Ledger had reportedly demonstrated that allowing energy producers to trade their surplus energy via the platform was an efficient way for them to monetize their renewable energy investments. This ostensibly helps to provide consumers with lower-cost green energy sources.

The new trial will enable KEPCO clients to use their NFVs against claims by the RE100 — a global initiative led by The Climate Group non-profit organization in cooperation with the global carbon disclosure network CDP. The initiative accepts NFV certificates provided they have tracking information from governments.

The trial is scheduled to commence in December, with results expected in March 2020.

Previous REC blockchain initiatives

In June of this year, South Korea’s largest power provider, Korea Electric Power Corporation, signed a contract with two domestic power suppliers to establish a blockchain-powered system for transacting RECs.

The corporation had also announced in fall 2018 that it would be using blockchain and other innovative energy solutions to develop its next-generation microgrid.

Copper scaled a 4-1/2-month peak on Monday, after Chinese data over the weekend showed solid imports of the metal last month, signalling an improvement in the manufacturing sector despite the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade tussle on demand.

Benchmark London Metal Exchange copper rose 0.7% to $6,032 a tonne by 0712 GMT, after climbing to $6,038.50 earlier during the session, its strongest since July 25.

Shanghai Futures Exchange’s most-traded copper contract ended up 2.3% at 48,440 yuan ($6,881.76) a tonne, off the day’s high of 48,470 yuan, its highest since July 22.

The better-than-expected import data may point to firming domestic demand after factory activity showed surprising signs of improvement recently, although analysts have noted the recovery could be difficult to sustain amid trade risks. “China’s commodity imports for November were stronger than expected, suggesting economic growth has stabilised after Q3’s softness,” said ANZ in a report. “With trade tension keeping inventories relatively low, import demand should be well supported into the year-end,” it said.

COPPER: Prices have broken above the 200-day moving average of $5,990 and if held on Monday’s close, may send a buy signal to momentum following funds to spark further gains.

IMPORTS: China’s copper imports rose 12.1% in November from the previous month to their highest in more than a year, as an unexpected improvement in the manufacturing sector drove up demand.

EXPORTS: Exports of unwrought aluminium stood at 452,000 tonnes in November, according to customs data. January-November exports from China, the world’s top aluminium producer, were down 0.3% from a year ago at 5.25 million tonnes.

SPREADS: Nearby tightness remained in aluminium, flagging a shortage of immediately available material as the cost of carrying the metal for tomorrow and the next day hit $2 on Friday, pointing to more deliveries into LME stocks ahead.

PRICES: London nickel fell 1.7% while Shanghai nickel dropped 1.0%; London zinc gained 0.5% and Shanghai zinc was up 0.2%.

The European Commission approved on Monday 3.2 billion euros ($3.53 billion) of state aid from seven European Union countries for research and innovation in battery technology.

The approval is for projects in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden to support research and innovation in the common European priority area of batteries.

The 3.2 billion euro in public funding, is expected to unlock an additional 5 billion euro in private investments. The completion of the overall project is planned for 2031.

“Battery production in Europe is of strategic interest for our economy and society because of its potential in terms of clean mobility and energy, job creation, sustainability and competitiveness,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President responsible for competition.

“The approved aid will ensure that this important project can go ahead without unduly distorting competition,” she said.

The Commission said the project involved “ambitious and risky” research and development across the batteries value chain, from mining and processing the raw materials, production of advanced chemical materials, the design of battery cells and modules and their integration into smart systems, to the recycling and repurposing of used batteries.

A lithium-ion battery used to power an automobile degrades over time (although not all that quickly if you believe Elon Musk’s claim that Tesla batteries will soon last for 1 million miles of driving). There comes a point when it can no longer charge rapidly or deliver instantaneous power to keep you ahead of the pack during the stoplight grand prix.

But when no longer suitable for use in a vehicle, those batteries typically have 60 to 70% of their useful life remaining. They are still fully capable of storing electricity in a residential or business environment, but you can’t just wheel a battery up to your house on a hand truck, plug it in to a standard wall outlet, and send out for pizza. There are a whole host of control mechanisms in between your electric meter and your repurposed battery.

The folks at Oak Ridge National Lab have dedicated themselves to solving all those interface issues and they think they have come up with ways to make second-use batteries suitable for residential use. Now they want to take what they have learned and scale it up to make second-use batteries satisfactory for use in grid scale storage applications.

The supply of used batteries is going to skyrocket in coming years as millions of electric cars take to the streets. The Edison Foundation predicts there will be about 19 million EVs in service by 2030 — about 7% of the total. (Those of us who spend our days gazing at our navels at CleanTechnica Tower think the actual number will be much, much higher.)

“Developing new technologies for energy storage is essential to a well-balanced, modern power grid increasingly reliant on renewable, distributed energy,” says Imre Gyuk, director of Energy Storage Research at DOE’s Office of Electricity. “This project also supports a circular economy by reusing a valuable commodity, minimizing waste, and ensuring reliable, secure delivery of electricity for a robust economy.”

Oak Ridge researcher Michael Starke has been leading a project supported by the Office of Electricity’s Energy Storage Program to create and enhance controls for second-use battery energy storage, including testing of a 15 kilowatt system at a Habitat for Humanity home site in North Carolina. Testing is also taking place at an Oak Ridge research house in a neighborhood near the lab.

Buy Low, Sell High

Using the software and power electronics hardware developed by Starke and his colleagues, the second-use battery system is designed to reduce a home’s purchases from the utility to zero during critical peak demand periods when the cost of electricity is at its highest. The home instead uses electricity generated or stored from on-site renewables. “The net benefit is a much lower electricity bill taking advantage of real time rate structures,” Starke said.

The process also frees up some of the demand from the utility’s service area during peak periods, helping to balance the grid. “The big takeaway is the showing that secondary-use energy storage is economically viable in these applications,” Starke adds. “Secondary use is not just taking used car batteries and throwing [them] into something. Getting to a utility grade system is a challenge. Utilities want something reliable and efficient that they can depend on for a long period. And they want just one device to communicate with that can manage a huge resource.”

The system developed by the Oak Ridge researchers relies on cloud-based communications that allow for remote control. Included in the system is a flexible inverter that converts power for either household use or utility transmission together with controls that synchronize the system with the grid and ensure safe startup and shutdown.

The Non-Homogeneous Battery Conundrum

When it comes to grid scale systems, lots of recycled batteries may be linked together, batteries from different manufacturers with different voltages, cell chemistries, and amounts of degradation. Getting them all to work together harmoniously and reliably requires highly complex control systems.

The researchers have developed a system that presupposes a desired amount of charging or discharging and then responds with the status and ability of each battery cell to meet the request, resulting in efficient dispatch of resources. “This is all behind what the utility sees,” Starke said. “Utilities just want a block of energy, but there are a lot of subsystems that have to coordinate and control these resources in order to make a 1 megawatt system.”

Starke and his colleagues are currently developing a 100-kilowatt second-use battery system to further test their controls and hardware solutions. It will be the first project of its kind to repurpose EV batteries for a grid-scale system, on the scale of a neighborhood with multiple homes.

Don’t look for any of this on the shelves at your local Lowe’s or Home Depot any time soon, but it is encouraging that ORNL is thinking about what to do with EV batteries that have exceeded their useful life but still have many years of service as energy storage devices remaining. In the old days, we used to take old tires and discard them in the woods. It’s good to know that EV batteries will not suffer a similar fate. 

Many corners of society stand to gain from advances in battery technology, from automakers, to manufacturers of consumer electronics to all that care about the environment. This year offered a little something for everybody with an interest in this area of science, bringing us tech that could charge electric vehicles in 10 minutes, batteries that suck carbon dioxide out of the air and news that the world’s biggest battery is set to get even bigger. Here are the most significant battery breakthroughs of 2019.

Ideally, the lithium-ion batteries that power our mobile devices and today’s electric vehicles stay within a certain temperature range when charging, otherwise they run the risk of degrading and suffering a far shorter lifespan. But there is plenty to be gained by charging them at higher temperatures if we can do so safely, namely a greater efficiency and therefore potentially far shorter plug-in times.

In October, a team of Penn State University researchers demonstrated a new kind of battery built to take the heat. Charging a battery at around 60° C (140° F) would normally be considered “forbidden,” by scientists, but the researchers’ device hits these temperatures in just 10 minutes and then rapidly cools before the deleterious effects can take hold.

The breakthrough centered on a thin nickel foil, which the scientists attached to the battery’s negative terminal to enable it to quickly warm as the electrons flowed through it, before rapidly cooling again. This approach saw the team safely charge the battery at these temperatures across 1,700 cycles. It did so with such great efficiency, the scientists say it was equal to charging an electric vehicle for a 200- to 300-mile range (320 to 480 km) in just 10 minutes.

Battery charging with a side of CO2

In October, a team of MIT researchers demonstrated a new type of battery with the ability to collect carbon dioxide from ambient air. Described as an electro-swing battery, the device uses a stack of electrodes coated in a compound called polyanthraquinone, giving them an ability to suck up molecules of CO2 that just happen to be nearby.

This process takes place naturally as the battery is charging, up until the electrodes are full of CO2. At this point it can be discharged to release the CO2 molecules for collection and use as an industrial product. The team says that testing in the lab showed its electro-swing battery could last for 7,000 charging cycles with a 30 percent drop in efficiency. It has now set its sights on a range of 20,000 to 50,000 cycles.

Carbon dioxide battery goes fully rechargeable

The search for new and improved battery designs involves exploring the potential of new ingredients, and one scientists have been exploring for a while is carbon dioxide. Lithium-carbon dioxide batteries promise an energy density more than seven times greater than a lithium-ion battery, but developing a version that can be recharged over and over has proved difficult so far.

This is because of an unwanted buildup of carbon on the battery’s catalyst during charging. In September, scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) reported a way around this problem, demonstrating what they billed as the first lithium-carbon dioxide battery capable of full rechargeability.

The battery makes use of “nanoflakes” of molybdenum disulfid built into the cathode, along with a hybrid electrolyte consisting of ionic liquid and dimethyl sulfoxide. This combination of materials prevents the troublesome accumulation of carbon on the catalyst, and enabled the battery to be recharged across 500 consecutive cycles.

Grid-level energy storage with a heart of molten silicon

Renewable sources like wind and solar can generate plenty of power, but it is storing that power for later use during peak load times that can be tricky. Back in April, Australian startup Climate Change Technologies (CCT) introduced what it sees as a solution, and a more effective one than standard lithium-ion-powered grid storage options.

Its Thermal Energy Device (TED) is billed as the world’s first working thermal battery. It is a modular battery that can be fed electricity from any source and use it to melt silicon inside an insulated chamber. A heat engine can then withdraw this energy for use as required, with each TED box able to store 1.2 MWh, while the individual units can be hooked up to create a battery of potentially unlimited size.

One of the big advantages of the system, according to CCT, is that molten silicon doesn’t degrade like lithium does. In testing, the company says its battery showed no signs of degradation over 3,000 test cycles and it expects them to last for 20 years or more. That long life aside, the TED batteries are claimed to be capable of storing six times more energy than lithium-ion batteries per volume, for around 60 to 80 percent of the price.

Doubling the density with off-the-shelf components

Lithium-ion batteries can carry enough energy to keep your mobile phone on for the day or power your laptop through a stint at the cafe, but have limitations when used for transport. This is because the energy density of the batteries built into cars and aircraft pales in comparison to traditional fuel sources, meaning you can’t increase the range without making them prohibitively heavy.

A promising pathway forward emerged via the Institute for Frontier Materials at Australia’s Deakin University last month, where scientists demonstrated a new kind of battery featuring a solid electrolyte made from commercially available polymers. This constituted “the first clear and useful example of liquid-free and efficient transportation of lithium-ion in the scientific community,” according to those involved.

By eschewing the volatile liquid electrolyte that is prone to catching fire, the battery should be a lot safer, but its potential doesn’t end there. The researchers say this type of design will also finally allow for the use of a lithium metal anode that could double the density of lithium batteries. This could lead to electric cars with far greater ranges and electric aircraft that travel meaningful distances.

Go big, go home, and go bigger again

In 2017, Tesla won a contract to build what would become the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery, offering the state of South Australia an extra 129 MWh of storage capacity with an output of up to 100 MW.

Now it is returning Down Under to expand on this in no small way. Neoen and the South Australia government have entered another agreement with Tesla to add a further 64.5 MWh of capacity and 50 MW of output, increasing the size of the world’s biggest battery by around 50 percent. The upgrade is planned for mid-2020.