The alkaline sulfur liquid battery is an interesting concept due to the simplicity, low cost, durability, thermal stability (no thermal runaway), low carbon foot print, eliminating the need of rare earth minerals for storage and its applicability to transportation systems. The internal electrolytes and the catholyte gets refreshed continuously making the life time very long. This storage technology has a low carbon footprint per kWh of energy storage medium. A BEIS Report describes this technology as a novel flow battery technology that is low-cost, long lasting and easily scalable. Can be used for very long term storage economically and sustainably.
A demonstrator which has been operational since 2017 has shown an overall AC-AC roundtrip efficiency of 93.15%, which is comparatively higher other comparable battery storage systems with online references. This technology is based on lithium-sulfur battery technology which have a high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg and theoretical energy capacity of 1675 mAh g. Therefore the theoretical energy density and theoretical energy capacity of SLIQ technology can be very close to 2600 Wh kg and 1675 mAh g respectively. This alkali sulphur liquid battery has been chosen to be included in an ARPA-E report on ‘The Cost and Performance Requirements for “Flexible” Advanced Nuclear Plants in Future Power Markets’ published in the official ARPA-E website. This ARPA-E report indicates that the SLIQ technology has a cost lower than $94/kWh with a life time exceeding 20 years, which makes this technology a definite candidate as an electrical storage technology for the fight against climate crisis.