Did you ever wonder what will happen to the giant tanks in oil storage farms, in the post-gasoline era? We have to confess we hardly spared a thought, until Clean Technica mentioned installing flow batteries in oil storage tanks. We liked the idea because it represents the circular economy, in action. And so we navigated across to Quino Energy’s website to explore the concept further.
Putting Quinones in Flow Batteries in Oil Storage Tanks
We had to catch up on our chemistry fast, as we learned that quinones are redox-active molecules. And that they can easily convert from a reduced hydroquinone form to an oxidized state and vice versa.
Quinones are apparently quite readily available, and some of them have high water solubility, and high chemical stability too. So do we have the makings of flow batteries in oil storage tanks? That’s exactly what start-up Quino Energy is planning in San Leandro, California.
A flow battery generates electricity through interaction between two special liquids, with a membrane separating them. The materials are relatively inexpensive apart from that membrane, and comprise mainly two tanks and two pumps.
If the two tanks are adjacent oil tanks, then so much the better. As long as, that is, the liquids do not corrode the carbon steel the tanks are made of. Start-up Quino Energy has solved that issue by using special water-soluble compounds.
Restoring the Quinones After They Decompose
Quino Energy says its special quinones work a treat in their flow batteries, but for one thing. And that one thing is the quinones decompose after a while, due to a chemical reaction.
But the start-up says it has found a way around this problem too. It restores the original reactants by periodically subjecting the quinone solutions to mild oxidation, by either:
- Bubbling air through the battery electrolyte, or alternatively,
- Performing an extra-deep discharge of the flow battery.
Quite intriguingly, Quino Energy can also delay the need to restore the reactants, by lightly restricting the depth of discharge. They say this has surprising non-linear effects on the overall degradation rate of the quinones. Now that’s a surprise!
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