Search

The EU's energy transition necessitates availability of green energy carriers with high volumetric energy densities for long‐term energy storage (ES) needs. A fully decarbonized scenario considering renewable energy availability is analyzed underpinning the need for such carriers. Considering the shortcomings of Power‐to‐X technologies in terms of efficiency and low volumetric density, Aluminum (Al) is identified as a potential alternative showing significantly high volumetric energy densities (23.5 kWh L−1). In this paper, an Al‐based long‐term ES concept is investigated, taking advantage of the inherent recycling of the active species (i.e., Al2O3 to Al) coupling decarbonized Hall–Héroult process with an Al‐steam oxidation for simultaneous hydrogen (H2) and heat generation. This work demonstrates an innovative lab‐scale fine Al powder‐steam oxidation process at ≈900 °C without use of catalysts or additives, exploiting alumina as inert material. Conducted SEM‐EDX analysis on oxidized Al provides supporting evidence in favor of employed oxidation pathway, hindering tendency of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) clumping and enabling direct use of oxides in the smelting process for fully recyclability. Moreover, outcomes of XRD analyses are presented to validate the measured total H2 yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation electrification is accelerating the clean energy transition. Due to high efficiencies and energy density, Li‐ion batteries (LIBs) are used as on‐board energy carrier for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). LIBs are subject to rapid degradation due to fast‐charging, mechanical, electrical and thermal factors. Thus, state‐of‐health (SoH) prediction is required to optimize LIBs exploitation over their lifespan. An online accurate and easy‐of‐implementation battery SoH prediction and monitoring method for BEV applications is here presented. The method implements discrete wavelet transform (DWT) analysis to voltage profiles, measured while driving. Specifically, an extensive cycle aging experimental campaign on NCR 18650 cells was performed, applying two typical US test drives (urban and extra‐urban drive cycle, respectively) to the cells at different SoH. Moreover, tests carried out on LIBs at different temperatures demonstrated that temperature effect on the implemented DWT‐based method can be distinguished and separated from cycle aging effect. The proposed method allows a real‐time SoH estimation showing a good accuracy (MAE, ME and RMSE respectively result in 0.917, 2.897 and 1.32) without requiring high computational efforts. This allows to assess battery SoH during the driving. The method can also be extended to other chemistries requiring a dedicated experimental activity for the parameters tuning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li-ion battery is the most diffused technology among electrochemical energy storage systems. Installed capacity forecasts suggest a strong growth in the next years with renewable energy utilization to meet decarbonization purposes. Over 20 fire incidents in grid systems where reported during the last years in Korea and United States, with negative repercussions in market and social acceptance. Thermal runaway results as the recurring high impact failure effect. A novel concept to prevent Li-ion battery fires in grid installations could be represented by the realization of an oxygen-deficient atmosphere inside the containers. This novel approach is presented and discussed with reference to the framework of battery fire protection and the application of oxygen reduction.