Fuji Pigment Unveils Aluminium-Air Battery Rechargeable by Refilling Salty or Normal Water

Fuji Pigment — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:00:08 +0900

KAWANISHI, Japan, Jan. 8 /Kyodo JBN/ --
Fuji Pigment Co., Ltd.
Fuji Pigment Unveils Aluminium-Air Battery Rechargeable by Refilling Salty or Normal Water
Fuji Pigment Co. Ltd. announced on January 8 that it has developed a new type of aluminium-air battery rechargeable by refilling salty or normal water and having a modified structure which ensures longer battery lifetime.

Due to fossil fuel depletion and the air pollution arising from its combustion, there is urgent demand for renewable, clean fuel alternatives for our future energy supply.  Although commercialized rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are widely used in mobile phones, laptop computers, and similar electronic devices, their energy density is still insufficient to permit their use in electric vehicles at an industrial level with economical cost. The highest energy storage technologies faced by recent researchers are the metal-air batteries. Several metal-air batteries such as lithium, iron, aluminium, magnesium and zinc-air, etc. have been investigated due to their promising energy densities. Among them, aluminium is an abundant, attractive anode material for energy storage and conversion because of its high specific capacity, highly negative standard electrode potential. In addition, aluminium is the most recycled metal in the world and is economically cheap.

The aluminum-air battery has a theoretical specific energy level of 8,100 Wh/kg and has the second largest capacity among various types of potential secondary batteries. Theoretical specific energy of a commercialized lithium-ion battery is 120-200 Wh/kg.  Therefore, the aluminium-air battery possesses theoretical capacity more than 40 times as large as that of a lithium-ion battery.

A major barrier to commercialization has been the high corrosion rate of aluminium during the electrochemical process. In addition, byproducts such as Al2O3 and Al(OH)3 accumulate at electrodes, hindering further battery reaction.

Regarding this obstacle, Dr. Ryohei Mori at Fuji Pigment Co. Ltd. (headquartered in Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan; http://www.fuji-pigment.co.jp/en/index.html) has invented the new type of aluminium-air battery. He has modified the aluminium-air battery structure by placing ceramic and carbonaceous materials between aqueous electrolyte and electrodes as an internal layer. Owing to this modified structure, anode corrosion and byproduct accumulation were suppressed, which resulted in longer battery lifetime.

1. The newly invented aluminium-air battery can work just by refilling salty water or normal water once in a while.

2. Aluminium is an abundant, cheap and safe material which can be applied for metal-air batteries. Therefore, battery prices can be cheap.

3. The new battery can be manufactured and work in an ambient atmosphere because it is stable in ambient air conditions. Moreover, there is no need to worry about explosion or flammability like a lithium-ion battery.

4. All materials (electrode, electrolyte) are safe and cheap, and can be made very easily even in the house kitchen.

5. Theoretically, the aluminium-air battery has the second largest capacity next to a lithium-air battery which is the strongest secondary battery. (lithium-ion battery: 120 -200 Wh/kg, aluminium-air battery: 8,100Wh/kg, lithium-air battery: 11,400 Wh/kg)

The aluminium-air battery has theoretical capacity more than 40 times that of a lithium-ion battery.

Scientific articles and a conference regarding the new type of aluminium-air battery are listed below.
Ryohei Mori, RSC Advances, 3, 2013, 11547-11551
Ryohei Mori, RSC Advances, 4, 2014, 1982-1987
Ryohei Mori, RSC Advances, 4, 2014, 30346-30351
Ryohei Mori, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2015, 162 (3) A288-A294.

Ryohei Mori, 225th ECS (ElectroChemical Society) Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA, 11-15 May 2014

Basic battery properties:
0.7-0.8 V, 400-800 mA/cell (10 cm x 10 cm), 4-8 mA/cm2
Battery works for minimum 14 days by refilling salty water or normal water occasionally.

Also, we can modify the battery at the request of customers.
(For example: 10.0-12.0 V, 4.0-8.0 A or even stronger battery)

Fuji Pigment Co. Ltd. is constantly improving the battery performance and planning to commercialize this new type of aluminium-air battery in the market by spring 2015.

Novel Environmentally Friendly, Poly Silicate Iron-based Coagulant Developed for Water Treatment

Fuji Pigment — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:00:12 +0900

Sept. 16, 2014
Fuji Pigment Co., Ltd.
Novel Environmentally Friendly, Poly Silicate Iron-based Coagulant Developed for Water Treatment by Fuji Pigment; Resulting Sludge Can Be Used As Agricultural Fertilizer
Fuji Pigment Co., Ltd. announced on September 16 that it has developed a new type of coagulant for treatment of drinking water which is friendly to the environment. Unlike the conventional coagulant that is based on poly aluminum chloride (PAC), the poly silicate iron (PSI)-based new product, "FUJI SP PSI," invented by Dr. Ryohei Mori at Fuji Pigment, is safe for the earth as well as for plant, animal and human health because PSI mainly consists of safe and abundant elements, iron and silicon, both of which also constitute soil and the earth crust. Therefore, sludge caused by FUJI SP PSI can be recycled back to agricultural soil and can be utilized as fertilizer owing to its environmentally friendly nature, offering a new solution for the modern water treatment industry.

In recent years, water is contaminated due to the worldwide human population explosion.

Currently used coagulants for water treatment such as PAC, aluminum sulfate, iron chloride, etc., cannot fulfill the requirements of growing demand today. Furthermore, aluminum-based coagulants have the problematic issue of adversely influencing the environment. When spread onto soil, phosphate could deplete due to the existence of aluminum. In addition, such coagulants may cause central neurological diseases among people because of residual aluminum.

About FUJI SP PSI

1. Environmentally friendly coagulant for water treatment. Sludge generated by PSI can go back to soil and used as fertilizer. This is the most important feature of FUJI SP PSI. The sludge generated by FUJI SP PSI contains rich phosphor, which is essential nutrition for plant growth and, therefore, can be used as fertilizer for agricultural soil.

2. One weakness of PSI is gelation during storage. However, it is improved by our technology. PSI tends to cause gelation during long-term storage in a container. However, we have succeeded in suppressing gelation with our technology, FUJI SP PSI.

3. The amount of sludge can be decreased. Generally, FUJI SP PSI has a stronger coagulation effect than PAC which enables us to provide strong sludge compression and dehydration. Therefore, the amount of sludge can be lowered.

法人別リリース

Fuji Pigment Unveils Aluminium-Air Battery Rechargeable by Refilling Salty or Normal Water

Novel Environmentally Friendly, Poly Silicate Iron-based Coagulant Developed for Water Treatment