Sumitomo Corporation of Japan saw its stock price jump 8% yesterday, as it announced the development of a new molten salt battery capable of low-temperature operation. The manufacturing cost of this battery would only be 10% of that of Lithium-ion batteries, while offering twice the energy density. Also, it would not suffer from the same overheating and flammability problems that have trouble Li-ion batteries in the past.
Molten salt battery technology has been around for decades, but has been handicapped by the fact that it requires high operating temperature of 300ºC and above to operate. The new battery announced by Sumitomo uses a new sodium-based material with a melting point of 57ºC. Even this low temperature is considered inadequate for personal vehicles and electronics, because energy would be required to melt and start up the battery, making it preferable for continuous power generation applications, such as homes or buses.
Indian homes could then benefit from using such batteries to buffer against load-shedding during peak usage hours. The fact that it's a hot country certainly doesn't hurt. Such batteries could even help make solar and wind power more practical, storing up excess energy from peak production conditions, for use during low production conditions.
Hopefully, Sumitomo will continue improving its recipe to find an even lower-temperature formula.
3 comments:
Solar Thermal with storage already uses molten salts. Perhaps this innovation will further revolutionize that and reduce costs even further.
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The MCA will be comparable to the Lockheed Martin F-35, with the FGFA comparable to the F-22 Raptor. The MCA will be a single-seat fighter. A two-seat version will be developed but primarily as a trainer. It will be a 20t aircraft with a 1,000km (621.4mi) range, fitting between the 10t, 500km range of the Hindustan Aeronautics Tejas and the 30t, 1,500km range of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), an Indian variant of the developmental Sukhoi PAK FA.
The MCA will be in flight trials by the end of the decade and it will be inducted by the middle of the next decade.
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