Feasibility Study of a Novel Secondary Zinc-Flow Battery as Stationary Energy Storage System: From Design to Environmental Assessment

Abstract

Herein, a zinc-air flow battery (ZAFB) as an environmentally friendly and inexpensive energy storage system is investigated. For this purpose, an optimized ZAFB for households is designed based on the most recent publications, and an economic and ecological analysis of the system is carried out. The results show that the customer price of the designed ZAFB is estimated at ≈5000 € and is thus about one-third lower than the quoted price for a comparable vanadium flow battery (VFB). The carbon footprint (CF) analysis shows that especially the alkaline electrolyte and the silver-containing gas diffusion electrode have a high share of the greenhouse gas emissions of the ZAFB system. However, the CF is 41% lower than that of the VFB, highlighting the great potential of the ZAFB as an alternative home storage system.