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    Iron-Sodium Resiliency Breakthrough: Startup says its Battery Chemistry Achieved Zero Loss over 700 Cycles

    Dec. 9, 2024
    According to the company, the cells have achieved more than 700 cycles with no loss in energy capacity and 90 percent roundtrip efficiency, using its iron-sodium chemistry in the existing commercially produced sodium metal chloride cell format.
    Image credit Inlyte Energy/PR Newswire
    675738dc0d90d2377de72228 Antonio At Pnnl Conference With Iron Results

    Sodium battery chemistry strikes again. The potential future alternative to lithium-ion is making significant research inroads into developing future long-duration energy storage solutions.

    Inlyte Energy this month reported it has achieved advanced results in its iron-sodium battery technology, which will help the company to address the crucial electricity megatrends: low-cost renewable energy integration, efficient industrial electrification, and electric capacity needs for high-performance computing.

    The announcement comes shortly after the Argonne National Laboratory touted its own research breakthrough on enhancing sodium-ion (NA+) batteries by preventing cracks in the cathode particles. Chemistries such as iron-sodium, sodium-ion, zinc-based and iron-flow are pointing the way to a possibility of longer duration options than lithium-ion, which in utility-scale energy storage only offers a few hours of discharge time.

    More on NA+ and other Innovations in Energy Transition Technologies 

    Lithium-ion, however, currently dominates large-scale battery storage with close to 90% of market deployment. The li-ion chemistry is good for electric vehicle batteries and short-term battery backup, but decarbonizing the grid and reducing the intermittency of renewable energies will require options that improve duration and scalability.

    Inlyte and others, including those in the zinc-based battery sector, believe they are working toward the answers.

    "Our iron-sodium chemistry has demonstrated stable cycling in commercial-size cells, proving its readiness for scale-up,” said Inlyte's Founder and CEO, Antonio Baclig, in a statement echoing his presentation recently at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “This technology combines the best of high-performance daily cycling and low-cost long-duration storage, making it uniquely capable of addressing today's energy challenges."

    Iron-sodium batteries such as Inlyte’s could achieve high efficiency for both daily cycling (4–10 hours) and affordability for long-duration storage (24+ hours). This dual capability not only increases the use of low-cost renewable energy but also offers a cost-effective replacement for fueled standby generation.

    According to the company, the cells have achieved more than 700 cycles with no loss in energy capacity and 90 percent roundtrip efficiency, using its iron-sodium chemistry in the existing commercially produced sodium metal chloride cell format. The results, representing over a year of testing, project a battery life of at least 7,000 cycles or 20 years — matching the proven performance of traditional sodium nickel chloride batteries, but at a fraction of the cost.

    Electrode Less Traveled: Alternatives to Li-Ion

    Inlyte’s team includes experts brought onboard with the company’s 2022 acquisition of United Kingdom-based Beta Research, is replacing nickel with iron to aim for cost reductions and high performance.

    Inlyte Energy’s technology is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E Seed program, which funded early work of the project, as well as early-stage venture funding and accelerators such as Activate and Joules. Inlyte secured additional follow-on investment in September 2024 to accelerate the scale-up of its technology.

    Inlyte aims for commercial demonstration projects in 2025 and large-scale U.S. manufacturing by early 2027. 

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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