Projektleiter Karl-Heinz Pettinger (r.) mit seinen Mitarbeitern Dominik Wenzke (l.) und Stephanie Seitz vor dem "HyFlow"-Demonstrator im Technologiezentrum Energie (TZE) der Hochschule Landshut Foto: TZE, Hochschule Landshut
The “HyFlow” research project, funded by the EU “Horizon 2020” program, has developed a demonstrator in which a powerful vanadium redox flow battery is combined with a supercapacitor with aqueous electrolytes.
This would allow large consumers such as companies, municipal utilities, hospitals or data centers to determine the optimal system sizes for their own needs, according to the Landhut University of Applied Sciences, to determine the optimal system sizes for their own needs, according to the Landhut University of Applied Sciences, which coordinated the project together with nine other partners from Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria and Portugal. Based on the previous electricity requirements, it can be calculated which storage system with how much capacity and performance is required in order to flexibly balance the electricity and energy requirements in critical network conditions.
This is achieved with hybrid storage, which uses the advantages of both technologies, according to the researchers. The redox flow battery has a large storage capacity, but can only be charged and discharged slowly. The supercapacitor, on the other hand, has short charging times with low amounts of energy. In the project, the charging time of the redox flow battery was also reduced by 60 percent, according to the researchers. It started with the development of supercapacitor carbon electrodes from a sustainable local source instead of the usual activated carbon made from coconut shells.
The scientists focused on developing non-flammable, water-based electrolytes.
According to the Landshut University of Applied Sciences, the new system has a carbon footprint that is up to 40 percent better than lithium-ion batteries and is up to 60 percent more cost-effective.
It was my dream to help develop such a high-performance, cost-effective and, above all, environmentally friendly storage system, and this dream has now come true with HyFlow,” says Karl-Heinz Pettinger, scientific director of the Energy Technology Center at Landshut University of Applied Sciences (TZE), who coordinated the project.
At the end of the project, which ended in February 2024 and was funded by the EU with around four million euros, large-scale energy storage had already been demonstrated with a larger demonstrator at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe.
The modeling of two use cases showed that amortization of the new storage system is possible in less than four years. The storage system is assembled from components that are already manufactured by the project partners. In addition, a more adaptable energy management system has been developed for the hybrid storage system.
This will also come into play in the follow-up project to “HyFlow”. The EU project “SMHYLES”, which is also funded, started in January, in which some of the results are further used, according to the Landshut University of Applied Sciences.
The focus is on the further development and demonstration of novel and sustainable salt- and water-based hybrid energy storage systems on an industrial scale. The starting point for this will be the pilot system developed in the “HyFlow” project
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