Australian Vanadium (AVL) has produced its first high purity vanadium electrolyte, which is a key component of vanadium flow batteries.
Independent testing demonstrated that the vanadium electrolyte complied with typical specifications required by vanadium flow battery manufacturers.
Alongside producing first vanadium electrolyte, AVL has also successfully commissioned its vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility that completed construction in December.
The facility – located in Wangara, Western Australia – was built with the help of a $3.69 million grant from the Federal Government. It was designed to produce high-purity electrolyte to support up to 33 megawatt hours per year of vanadium flow battery energy storage.
“The completion of the facility, coupled with the confirmation of the production of on-specification vanadium electrolyte from Western Australia’s first manufacturing facility, achieves another major milestone for AVL and is a positive reflection of the technical and operational expertise within our organisation,” AVL chief executive officer Graham Arvidson said.
“We are ready to accept orders for electrolyte and are actively pursuing sales.”
According to AVL, vanadium batteries are best suited to large-scale energy storage applications such as electrical grids as they offer a high capacity for energy storage and a long cycle life. They can also be charged and discharged repeatedly without significant degradation.
To help the industry build upon these advantages, the company is developing its Australian Vanadium project, one of the highest grade vanadium projects in the world.
Vanadium concentrate produced from the Australian Vanadium project will then feed AVL’s proposed processing plant for vanadium pentoxide production, which will be used as feedstock for the vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility.