Flow Battery Research Collective

@sepi Thanks for getting involved in this! I also see strong synergies with the FBRC. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) also allows us to simulate different scenarios, even when the scaling process is still under development — such as different upscaling scenarios, the use of various electrolytes, etc. Further aspects regarding Circular Engineering could also include, besides recyclability, elements such as modular design for upscaling, design for repairability, and other related considerations. In our opinion, this could take place in parallel with the current functionality and efficiency tests. A group of students has already shown great interest in contributing to the FBRC project. I’ll stay tuned and with great interest for the FBRC’s reply. @sepi Thanks again for thinking along in this topic!

Kind Regards.

Dear Flow Battery Research Collective,

I am reaching out to you today as a team member of the CIRCLE project at Bochum University of Applied Sciences.
CIRCLE stands for Creative Impulses for Recycling, Crafting and Learning and is a teaching and research project that aims to combine the concepts of makerspaces and circular economy. In this context, researchers and students work together with various partners to investigate the circularity of products using scientific methods (e.g., life cycle assessment) and to practically develop, test, and validate potential product improvements. To support this work, we have both the necessary technical and scientific infrastructure as well as a fully equipped makerspace on campus.

The CIRCLE project is conducted by the Sustainable Technologies Laboratory at Bochum University. Our lab is dedicated not only to topics of circularity but also energy systems. Among other things, we have previously conducted life cycle assessments (LCA) of redox flow batteries.
https://www.hochschule-bochum.de/en/labor-nachhaltigkeit-technik/circle/

We are currently in the project’s kick-off phase and are looking for interested partners who might be open to collaborating with us. According to your roadmap, you plan to begin storing energy on a practical scale later this year.

We believe this could be a great opportunity to collaborate by assessing the environmental impact of your open-source flow battery kit/scaled models, identifying hotspots across different life cycle phases, and jointly developing potential solutions. Exploring the environmental benefits of open-source hardware could also be an interesting dimension of such a partnership.

If this sounds interesting to you, we would be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss initial questions, ideas, and potential areas for collaboration.
We look forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,
Santiago Eduardo