The standard electrolyte for flow batteries is

Flow batteries comprise two components: Electrochemical cell Conversion between chemical and electrical energy External electrolyte storage tanks Energy storage Source: EPRI K. Webb ESE 471 5 Flow Battery Electrochemical Cell Electrochemical cell Two half-cellsseparated by a proton-exchange membrane(PEM)

Decarbonisation requires renewable energy sources, which are intermittent, and this requires large amounts of energy storage to cope with this intermittency. Flow batteries offer a new freedom in the design of energy handling. The flow battery concept permits to adjust electrical power and stored energy capacity independently.

True flow batteries have all the reactants and products of the electro-active chemicals stored external to the power conversion device. Systems in which all the electro-active materials are dissolved in a liquid electrolyte are called redox (for reduction/oxidation) flow batteries.

In contrast, in a flow battery the electro-active materials are stored externally and the electrodes serve only as structural components and passive source/sink of electrons. Second, because of the dual functions of its electrodes described above, a conventional battery has minimal or no scale-up advantages. Instead, it can only be scaled-out.

In contrast, the capacity of a flow battery can be simply increased by increasing the size of the external storage tanks of the electro-active materials. A flow battery is an electrochemical device that converts the chemical energy of the electro-active materials directly to electrical energy, similar to a conventional battery and fuel cell.

Flow batteries require electrolyte to be pumped through the cell stack Pumps require power Pump power affects efficiency Need a fluid model for the battery in order to understand how mechanical losses affect efficiency K. Webb ESE 471 29 RFB Fluid Model Power required to pump electrolyte through cell stack Pumping power is proportional to