AIBN Seminar Series with Maria Skyllas-Kazacos and Dr Jens Noack

We are pleased to present We are pleased to present Prof Maria Skyllas-Kazacos (11am-11.45am) to speak on the subject: Highlights of UNSW All-Vanadium Flow Battery Development – 1983 to present and Dr Jens Noak (11.45am-12.30pm) to speak on the subject Flow Batteries for Storage of Renewable Energy – Challenges and Historical Developments at Fraunhofer ICT.

When: Tuesday 21st November 2023

Where: AIBN Level 1 Seminar room or online via zoom. Click here to join.

Time: 11am-12.30pm

Abstract

We are pleased to present Prof Maria Skyllas-Kazacos to speak on the subject: Highlights of UNSW All-Vanadium Flow Battery Development – 1983 to present and Dr Jens Noak to speak on the subject Flow Batteries for Storage of Renewable Energy – Challenges and Historical Developments at Fraunhofer ICT.

Bio

Presenter:Maria Skyllas-Kazacos 11am-11.45am
Abstract.
The Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) was taken from the initial concept stage at UNSW in 1983 through the development and demonstration of several 1-5 kW prototypes in the 1990s with on-going research activities continuing to the present day. As part of this 40 year R&D program, a wide range of research projects was undertaken in the areas of electrolyte process development and characterisation, electrolyte additives and precipitation inhibitors, electrodes and membranes, conducting plastic bipolar plate formulation and manufacturing trials, mathematical modelling of membrane transfer, shunt currents and pumping energy losses in bipolar stacks, thermal modelling of redox cells under a range of operating conditions, control system development, sensors and state-of-charge monitoring, chemical and electrochemical rebalancing, gelled electrolytes, vanadium bromide cell and V/O redox fuel cell. Several stationary and mobile field trials of the VFB were conducted by UNSW in the mid-1990s with early licensing leading to large-scale demonstrations and significant commercialisation activities in a wide range of applications around the world. This presentation provides an historical overview of the research, development and early field trials of the All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery at UNSW between 1983 and 2023 and gives an update of recent commercial development.

Bio

Presenter:Maria Skyllas-Kazacos 11am-11.45am
Abstract.
The Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) was taken from the initial concept stage at UNSW in 1983 through the development and demonstration of several 1-5 kW prototypes in the 1990s with on-going research activities continuing to the present day. As part of this 40 year R&D program, a wide range of research projects was undertaken in the areas of electrolyte process development and characterisation, electrolyte additives and precipitation inhibitors, electrodes and membranes, conducting plastic bipolar plate formulation and manufacturing trials, mathematical modelling of membrane transfer, shunt currents and pumping energy losses in bipolar stacks, thermal modelling of redox cells under a range of operating conditions, control system development, sensors and state-of-charge monitoring, chemical and electrochemical rebalancing, gelled electrolytes, vanadium bromide cell and V/O redox fuel cell. Several stationary and mobile field trials of the VFB were conducted by UNSW in the mid-1990s with early licensing leading to large-scale demonstrations and significant commercialisation activities in a wide range of applications around the world. This presentation provides an historical overview of the research, development and early field trials of the All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery at UNSW between 1983 and 2023 and gives an update of recent commercial development.

Presenter Dr Jens Noack: 11.45am-12.30pm
Abstract
Flow batteries are an excellent way to store renewable energy efficiently, safely and inexpensively. A variety of different technologies exist today, all with different characteristics and different levels of development maturity. Here we review the most important of these different technologies while looking at the history of redox flow batteries. Furthermore, some of the most important developments at Fraunhofer ICT over the last 15 years will be shown.

Bio:
Jens Noack studied chemical engineering and environmental technology at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences and earned his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Since 2007, he has been working at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in the Applied Electrochemistry department, where he is mainly involved as a project manager, scientist and engineer in the development of redox flow batteries as storage devices for renewable energy sources. Since 2020 he is Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney/Australia and Deputy Director of the "German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for Storage of Renewable Energy" CENELEST in Sydney. Jens Noack is author of more than 100 publications, co-editor of a three-volume standard work on redox flow batteries, and member of the Electrochemical Society (ECS) and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). He is also a member of numerous national and international standardization committees on stationary energy storage, batteries, redox flow batteries and fuel cells, and is chairman of the German standardization group on redox flow batteries.