Deyang five years layout, first ying "aluminum empty battery" mass production.

"Can not become off-the-shelf product, again dazzle cool high-tech also is a fokelore." Hao budong, director of deyang dongshen new energy technology co., LTD., smiles with relief as he looks at the newly unveiled plaque of "sichuan aluminum air power industrial park" on Nov. 8.

Ten days ago, the company, which had been in business for five years, finally rolled out its first mass-produced product. According to the order, 1,000 aluminum-air metal fuel UPS (uninterruptible power supply) will be used as a backup power source for the tower base station in deyang, replacing the original diesel generator and lead-acid battery.

It is reported that this is the first time to achieve the aluminum empty metal fuel cell (aluminum empty battery) industrialization, commercialization.

With "aluminum water air" power generation, this "black technology" in deyang really went to the market.

scout

Three major USES to step up testing

Aluminum fuel UPS is not the only product that deyang hopes to mass-produce. "The applications that made empty aluminum batteries famous are still in the field of new energy vehicles." Speaking of the "black technology", ouyang xiaoping, an academician of the Chinese academy of engineering, said that two years ago, a foreign company demonstrated the technology, and claimed that the aluminum air battery with aluminum raw materials, water and air power "only by water can range up to 3000 kilometers", which caused a stir at that time. "The foreign test can reach up to 3,000 kilometers, and the result of the deyang test is' a range of 1,000 kilometers with 30 kilograms of aluminum '." Dongshen new energy related person in charge told reporters, in terms of energy density, power performance and safety, aluminum empty battery is very suitable for traction power battery, and this is the main direction of the enterprise. Through the cooperation with a car company in sichuan, after nearly a year of demonstration and test, they have realized the "one-time 30 kg aluminum fuel, can range 1000 km".

The person in charge made a calculation: the price of aluminum raw materials is about 12 yuan/kg, plus the production of reaction equipment and other costs, the cost of 100 kilometers is about 45 yuan, "0.45 yuan per kilometer, better than burning oil.

They have loaded the empty aluminum batteries onto a 3-ton cold-chain truck and are running a test run. "Details such as where the battery will be placed are being worked out and will be available soon." Deyang will focus on creating a full range of new products such as aluminum air power supply and hybrid power supply in the future.

Using aluminium batteries to power drones and light aircraft is another. At present, dongshen new energy is also cooperating with a number of domestic colleges and institutions to carry out prototype and test of aluminum air power uav and electric light aircraft.

trouble

Technology, supporting to be breakthrough

The development of aluminum empty battery has always been controversial, and "advantages and disadvantages are very prominent" is the industry consensus.

Tianjin university professor wang as in its main research and development of aluminum air battery, she argues, aluminum air battery has the high "energy density, safety, renewable, environmental protection, pollution-free" etc, the future can be in communication base stations, hospitals, television emergency standby power field is widely used, that alone, there are billions of market development.

But the aluminum empty battery itself is also like the dry battery same "disposable battery", may "use up changes". When applied to new energy vehicles, compared with lithium battery, it does not need to solve the problem of troublesome charging. "Empty aluminum batteries are perfectly safe to transport, store, and carry as long as they are sealed." The king said.

"To promote the development of empty aluminum batteries, it is more important to face up to their shortcomings." On the day the first batch of dongshen's new energy products rolled off the production line, ouyang stressed this point more than once. In his view, the shortcomings of empty aluminum batteries are also prominent. For example, as a "disposable battery" that cannot be charged, it needs to re-establish an industrial chain from manufacturing to transportation, replacement and recycling to be widely commercialized. "It will take a lot of money and a long time to develop." However, for large driving devices, the power density of aluminum empty batteries is low, which often requires supporting lithium batteries, which also leads to the discount of its practicality.

The relevant person in charge of the aluminum fuel cell production enterprise also believes that to accelerate the engineering and industrialization process, it is urgent to "make the volume of aluminum empty battery smaller and further enhance the energy density".

countermeasures

"Circular development" can be expected in the future

For the development of aluminum empty battery, ouyang xiaoping believes that "the future, more worth looking forward to".

He believes that aluminum is an extremely abundant metal element on the earth, and aluminum air battery technology will "from metal materials to fuel" aluminum, itself will promote the battery industry, and may even rewrite the entire energy pattern. Multi-field research and development, testing, as its breakthrough aluminum air battery technology bottleneck countermeasures. He revealed that in the future, he will also combine aluminum air batteries with supercapacitors for extensive research in areas such as aviation power and underwater power.

It is worth mentioning that "aluminum does not disappear when used to generate electricity", which is also regarded as another significant advantage of the development of aluminum empty batteries. Using their technology, ordinary or even discarded aluminum can be turned into fuel to generate electricity, hao said. Once the industry chain matures, "aluminum empty battery recycling" will also be a big business.

According to the introduction, aluminum hydroxide, a by-product of the discharge of empty aluminum batteries, can be used as a large number of industrial-grade flame retardants to achieve recycling. Surplus aluminum hydroxide can be separated to produce granular aluminum oxide with a diameter of 30 nanometers, which can be used to produce industrial sapphires, etc. And surplus alumina can use craft of green electrolytic aluminium again, become aluminous fuel again, realize thereby "cycle develops".

In April this year, the national development and reform commission and the national energy administration jointly issued a document, which clarified the development path of metal fuel cells. According to the top-level design, deyang is focusing on the implementation of a series of innovative policies and measures, such as "high-end new industry cultivation plan", and steady progress has been made in the "four first batch" innovative development plan of competitive enterprises, industrial alliances, core technologies and advanced products.

On October 28, sichuan aluminum air power industrial park was also unveiled in deyang jingyang high-tech zone. It is clear that it will take deyang dongshen new energy technology co., ltd. as the core enterprise and add at least five supporting enterprises to promote the upgrading of battery industry and open up the whole industrial chain of aluminum air battery.