Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Volta Energy, Inc.

Ravindra Datta

Drew J Martino

Srivatsava V Puranam

Karan Datta

Described are flow electrochemical cells and systems using flow electrochemical cells that carry simultaneous COcapture and electrical energy storage. The flow electrochemical cells comprise a negative electrode configured to be in fluid communication with alkaline negative electrolyte, a positive electrode configured to be in fluid communication with acidic positive electrolyte, a first ion-exchange membrane in contact with the negative electrode, a second ion-exchange membrane in contact with the positive electrode, and an inert intermediate neutralyte layer between the first ion-exchange membrane and the second ion-exchange membrane.

Electrochemical cell and method for carbon capture with energy storage

A unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) employs a molten salt electrolyte for negative ion transfer by operating at temperatures above that of aqueous reactants for supporting gas-phase reactants, and the molten salt mitigates the need for reactant based catalysts by serving the dual role of the electrolyte as well as an optional catalyst or catalyst solvent. The molten-salt electrolyte (MSE) hydrogen-halogen unitized regenerative fuel cell is adaptable for microgrid electricity storage applications. Configurations herein employ a molten-salt electrolyte and a closed system of the reactants for cycling between charge and discharge modes. The URFC employs reactants including hydrogen and halogen as the oxidant, which is more reactive and energy efficient than oxygen employed in conventional URFCs, and avoids platinum electrodes by employing a high temperature, gas-phase, system which further reduces reactant crossover issues.

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Worcester, MA, United States of America

Ravindra Datta