Scientists turn food-grade vanillin into an electrolyte for a flow battery

The problem of accumulating and storing electricity is becoming more and more acute (as green energy), so scientists around the world are looking for an alternative to expensive and hazardous components existing batteries.

So the scientific group from TU Graz has developed a technology that allows you to obtain a redox electrolyte for batteries from environmentally friendly and very cheap food vanillin. I want to tell you about this unique technology.

Vanillin and its unusual properties

Stefan Graz (University of Technology Graz), without undue modesty, considers the technology he developed to be a real revolution in the field of sustainable energy storage. After all, the use of vanillin as an electrolyte converts batteries into the category of environmentally friendly cells.

Why Vanillin

We are all used to the fact that vanillin is more of a confectionery product, but few people know what it is. one of the few fine substances that can be obtained from Lignin (waste in the production paper).

So scientists have learned how to process lignin into a redox material (vanillin) through several simple and extremely accessible chemical reactions.

Moreover, the transformation process itself does not require any special conditions and can be performed even at home (as they say, everything ingenious is simple).

Patents and commercial use

Naturally, the scientists rushed to patent their technology, and the results of the experiments were kindly shared on the pages of Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Before embarking on a full-fledged commercial implementation of the project, scientists plan to test their technology, as they say, in the field.

To do this, the plans are to connect to a cellulose plant and establish the production of vanillin in the required volumes from lignin (which is a waste product of cellulose production).

For this, active negotiations are already underway with such a company as Mondi AG (one of the leaders in the production of paper products).

In addition, a search is underway for an energy company that can integrate redox batteries into its networks and thus reduce the load on the network.

The developers are confident that the storage batteries created using their technology will fit perfectly into the green energy generation systems. And they will become an excellent alternative to accumulation systems based on expensive and uneconomical lithium.

Well, let's see how we can implement this project in reality. If everything works out, then soon we will see a new type of batteries.

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