SAN LEANDRO, Calif., June 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Quino Energy
(https://quinoenergy.com/), a company developing water-based organic flow
batteries originally invented at Harvard University, announced its 10 kW / 100
kWh prototype is now operational, using material produced using its zero-waste,
continuous flow production process that achieved Manufacturing Readiness Level
7 (MRL) (https://quinoenergy.com/quino-energy-achieves-manufacturing-readiness-
level-7-for-its-first-of-its-kind-zero-waste-continuous-production-organic-flow-
battery-process/) earlier this year. The Company also shared plans to expand its
production footprint into the European Union and prioritize field pilot
development and commercial sales on a global scale.
This milestone adds to the company's recent successes with a 6 kW / 24 kWh
(https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quinoenergy_energystorage-flowbattery-
gridstorage-activity-7206331213442105344-
SmCv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop) pilot system and two other 1.5
kW / 6 kWh (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quinoenergy_energystorage-batteries-
batterystorage-activity-7166431448688754688-Pkmt/) systems currently operating
at its facility. With these pilot systems, Quino Energy has demonstrated its
chemistry working in full systems - originally designed for vanadium but adapted
for use by Quino Energy with minimal modifications - made by two separate flow
battery OEMs. Notably, all four lab pilot systems use the same full-size stacks
found in megawatt-scale systems and active material made in Buffalo, NY by
Electrosynthesis Company, Quino Energy's Department of Energy (DOE) project
partner. As part of the DOE project, Quino Energy will send one of its lab
pilots to the Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(https://www.pnnl.gov/grid-storage-launchpad-pnnl) at the end of the year for
external validation.
Quino's production process, which has now achieved ton-scale production,
represents the first real example of U.S. domestic manufacturing of flow battery
active material, and is a testament to how easily Quino Energy's innovative
zero-waste production process can be scaled up to achieve lower costs. With the
average household in America using approximately 29 kWh
(https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/electricity-use-in-homes.php)
of electricity per day, Quino's 100 kWh pilot can supply a home's entire
electricity needs for more than three whole days or three homes for one day.
This is an energy storage capacity roughly equivalent to more than seven fully-
charged Tesla Powerwalls combined.
"I continue to be amazed at the rapid progress that Quino Energy has made on
scaling up their innovative zero-waste process for manufacturing organic flow
battery electrolytes. With their low-cost, high-performance quinone chemistry,
and general backward compatibility with vanadium flow battery hardware, Quino
Energy's technology enables quick acceleration of time-to-market and scale up,"
said Changwon Suh, Technology Manager at the Department of Energy's Advanced
Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (DOE AMMTO). "This next
generation storage technology reduces manufacturing costs and eliminates the
need to use critical materials, supporting greater commercial acceptance and
innovative applied RD&D. Quino's organic flow battery electrolytes serve as an
example of DOE AMMTO's vision of bridging the gap between academic discovery and
commercialization through collaborative RD&D and use of innovative materials and
manufacturing that supports a clean, decarbonized economy."
Masahiro Sameshima, General Partner at ANRI and Quino Energy's seed stage lead
investor added, "We have been supporting Quino Energy as investors since the
seed stage, and we are amazed by the incredible research and development speed
driven by the strong leadership of Eugene Beh and the management team. The
recent achievement of scaling up from the previously accomplished 6 kW / 24 kWh
pilot system to the new 10 kW / 100 kWh prototype marks a significant milestone.
As the demand for flow batteries is expected to grow, we expect that Quino
Energy's cheap and sustainable solutions will address the existing challenges of
flow batteries and contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society."
"We recently achieved an annual degradation rate more than 10 times lower than
equivalent LFP batteries with more than six months of continuous cycling on a
single cell (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/quinoenergy_flowbatteries-
batterytechnology-energystorage-activity-7207064211586199552-
hG1q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop), and reached six months of
cumulative cycling among our full-scale lab pilots," said Eugene Beh, co-founder
and CEO of Quino Energy. "Coupled with our active production line in the U.S.
for our quinone electrolyte and one more planned for the EU, our organic flow
battery technology is derisked and ready for a new phase of growth focused on
MWh-scale deployments and commercial sales of electrolytes. Our vision is for
quinones to replace vanadium as the dominant flow battery chemistry and
eventually become the leading battery chemistry for mid-duration energy storage.
To get there, we will work with other OEMs to build on the good work they have
done on building systems for vanadium, and focus on delivering safe, non-
flammable energy storage to customers. Longer-term, we aim to take flow
batteries to a whole new cost paradigm to go toe-to-toe with lithium-ion
batteries."
On Wednesday June 26, Beh will be speaking at the International Flow Battery
Forum (https://www.accelevents.com/e/international-flow-battery-forum-
2024#about) (IFBF) in Glasgow, UK to share and discuss Quino Energy's rapid
progress.
About Quino Energy
Formed in 2021, Quino Energy is a start-up company that is developing water-
based flow batteries that store electrical energy in organic molecules called
quinones, for commercial and grid applications. These batteries are predicted to
enjoy a unique combination of low capital cost, true fire safety, rapid
scalability, and local manufacturability. This is made possible by a number of
technological breakthroughs, some of which were first discovered at Harvard
University (https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=4Dhw4fWbxy1Px-
LOt2JBkr7dwYhh4xktFCklqqmHs4eLHEibb4evLcczkHLHSTYKX6xOi-
LNvxJBuWOAJAJ98ui7OG8Irq7f8Dh4Uh6gNdmQT_QF1PFLs80TzVDkuq9QejKOCsIzOZWYuqUDLe8rzu
hyFPUAQRrvXamFL2Vtc_h3dd6JjW5BMzBeu6SW_nUW) and later licensed by Quino Energy.
Please visit quinoenergy.com
(https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=jzrOlOu9gKcDWPzTqp4fKh9ofFHwcRAELO13
8bAQLu_odJk6bdPIsqL0ONwhfgw7YuqfK7IyTboPGHTUdFDTz86ZT2cZP83ImVB8lf2RW24=) for
more details on the team and the technology.
Media inquiries:
quino@fischtankpr.com
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