e-Zinc’s technology is a paradigm shift in energy storage. By storing electrical energy within zinc metal, the system can store hundreds of hours of energy capacity while being significantly cheaper than battery technologies. This has the potential to dramatically improve the value proposition of intermittent, renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar.
The figure below illustrates the basic structure of the electrochemical cell. The cell consists of a charging section at the top, a discharging section at bottom, and a storage section in the middle. When charging, zinc metal is deposited on the electrodes in the charging section. The zinc metal deposits are periodically wiped off from the charging electrodes and fall naturally through the electrolyte into the spaces between the discharging electrodes. When discharging, the zinc is dissolved back into the electrolyte and recirculated to the charging section, ready for the next charging cycle.
e-Zinc’s technology decouples power from energy, allowing low-cost scaling of storage capacity based on 3 principles:
Every component has an existing recycling market or can be reused in subsequent systems
e-Zinc’s system uses water based electrolyte which is non-flammable and has no risk of thermal runaway or igniting in a fire
e-Zinc’s technology has little or no reliance on cooling or heating systems, which saves on upfront capital cost and avoids parasitic load during operation
e-Zinc’s storage system retains 100% of its usable capacity throughout its lifetime.
e-Zinc can customize the design of systems to meet the power and energy needs of a particular market application.
e-Zinc’s technology decouples power from energy, allowing low-cost scaling of energy capacity
