Agora Energy’s Solution Will Turn CO2 & Electricity Into Industrial Feedstocks Cheaply
This is the third in a series of articles I’m writing about flow battery technology, with a couple of articles devoted to Agora Energy Technologies’ specific technology. The first article dealt with flow batteries in general, and why they are a strongly promising component for grid storage. The second dealt with Agora’s unique differentiators. This article is devoted to a compelling alternative use case for their technology, one that’s immediate and high value.
The past three years have been a deeper dive into industrial processes and chemical engineering for me, and the implications for global warming. The CleanTechnica report on Carbon Engineering was a major effort, as were the many articles on industrial processes for carbon sequestration. The assessment of cement manufacturing, with and without the nonsensical use of concentrating solar power was another.
This has led me to a deeper interest in the edge cases of climate solutions. My assessments and research over the past few years has led me to understand the major solution sets for energy, transportation, and biological carbon sequestration, but there’s still a lot of carbon and pollution emitted in industrial processes that needs to be addressed. As one example, there is the $44 billion global carbonates market.
Potassium carbonate is in a lot of things we use daily. It’s used in soaps, glass, and china dishes. It’s used as a drying agent in chemical processes. It’s in both Asian noodles and Dutch cocoa powder. Wine makers use it. It’s a water softener and a fire extinguisher. It’s used in welding and animal feed.
Sodium carbonate is equally widely used. It’s in glass, paper, rayon, soaps, and detergents. It’s used for water softening. It’s a food additive that controls acidity. As a weak, safe to handle base, it’s used in a lot of chemical processes. Over 40 million metric tons are produced each year, amounting to several kilograms for every person on Earth.
Between them, they represent a roughly $44 billion global annual market. And the current processes that make them are pretty nasty in a lot of ways.
Let’s take sodium carbonate as an example. About 75% of all the sodium carbonate used in the world is made by the Solvay Process. The US gets most of its sodium carbonate from a massive trona deposit in Wyoming.
Syracuse Solvay process works circa 1900 courtesy US Library of Congress
The Solvay Process was invented in 1861, and is still used everywhere today. It bubbles CO2 up through ammonia-based brine in a four-step chemical engineering process that produces and uses CO2 at various points in the process. And of course there’s the ammonia, which is highly toxic, with 15-minute exposure limits to levels of 35 ppm of gaseous ammonia per the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Ammonia is a manufactured substance in and of itself, using hydrogen created from fossil fuels today with 8-35 times the mass of CO2 as hydrogen. Prolonged exposure to small amounts of ammonia cause irreversible health effects. The ammonia is mostly recycled with only small amounts being lost, but eliminating it entirely would be beneficial.
The Solvay process actually captures some CO2 produced in one step to use in a later stage, but overall, the deployed process is a net emitter of 2.74 times the mass of CO2 as the mass of carbonates produced.
Solvay chemical process flow courtesy of UN IPCC
The source of heat in the first step interested me. That step in the process is the same as for cement, incidentally. It requires substantial heat, in the 600 to 1000 degree Celsius range to calcinate limestone to make quicklime and CO2. Some of the CO2 and all of the quicklime are used in later steps in the process, unlike cement making where all the CO2 is just emitted into the atmosphere.
As a side note, a Lafarge cement expert told me when I was exploring cement that they had no good process for capturing limestone kiln CO2 emissions, which clearly isn’t the case as it has been done as an industrial process for 160 years. Capturing flue CO2 isn’t hard, it’s just expensive, so it isn’t done unless there’s a very good economic reason.
Then there’s another temperature challenge, which is that the third step in the process is strongly exothermic, which means it gives off a lot of heat, just not usefully. One of the key challenges in the process is keeping the temperature low enough. That’s typically done with cooling water from ground sources, a challenged source in many parts of the world today, with thermal generation plants shutting down or running on diminished capacity as ground water heats up past the point where it works well with the designed equipment. The Solvay company shut down four of its 22 Sao Paulo, Brazil units due to the river they take water from drying up in 2014, a taste of the future for many heavy water consuming industrial plants located on water sources at risk from global warming.
The second instance of the application of heat in step 4 is also interesting. That requires another kiln with a temperature of about 300 degrees Celsius. Any time I see heat these days in industrial processes, I assume it’s coming from fossil fuels, and I was unsurprised to find that the preferred energy source for the Solvay Process was coke, a processed coal derivative.
That’s not all of course. The Solvay Process is much less polluting than the Leblanc Process it replaced, but inland sites end up with 50% more waste deposits of by-products than the sodium carbonates of value. Solvay, New York, which was renamed when the Solvay company built a plant there, has massive waste beds that have polluted the local area and contributed to the nearby Onondaga Lake being declared a Superfund Site.
Long wall trona mine image courtesy Government of Wyoming
I haven’t done the same assessment of the environmental impacts of the US trona mining and processing sodium carbonate stream, but at first glance it looks like a high CO2 emitter with a fair amount of use of toxic chemicals and a challenging waste stream as well.
Why is this digression interesting? Well, the Agora technology can create sodium carbonate in two steps without any heat and with barely any temperature management required.
Wait. What? It’s a battery, not a chemical plant, isn’t it?
Well, yes. The closed-loop model cycles the chemicals between their base form and their charged form and back. But the open-loop model, which changes in some of the details, produces sodium carbonate after the second cycle instead of turning it back into CO2, in a up to 35% by weight solution with water. And both act as batteries, taking in electricity in the charging stage and producing electricity in the discharge phase.
So the ammonia-based, high-heat, high-cooling, five-step process turns into a shorter process with much less harmful outcomes. It takes electricity when it’s cheap at night or other times, from renewables wherever possible of course, to ‘charge’ the battery. Then during the daytime, instead of reversing the process as in the open-flow approach, it sends it through Agora’s cells with a different chemistry and produces carbonates in solution and electricity. The entire daytime process from lights to pumps to drying the carbonate solution and the like can be run by a portion of the electricity that’s produced.
The output sodium carbonate is pure as well. It’s a pure compound in pure water. Heat the water to evaporate it off, and the purity should be well over the 98% purity typically guaranteed for food additives for the most expensive variants. There’s enough electricity in the battery to power the evaporation directly per my calculations with the CEO Dr Christina Gyenge, but there’s far more than enough to use heat pump technology with a COP of 4 to do that, or to pump it over a source of waste industrial heat elsewhere, and leave a lot of electricity left over for other uses in the industrial facility or to sell to the grid.
So, this technology can take a cheap feedstock we have too much of in the world, CO2, regardless of where it comes from and using renewable electricity produce very high quality industrial chemicals that are used globally in a market worth tens of billions of dollars.
Agora’s CO2-based redox flow battery technology is an industrial component from the future.
Full disclosure. I have a professional relationship with Agora as a strategic advisor and Board observer. I did an initial strategy session with Agora about their redox flow battery technology in late 2019 and was blown away by what they had in hand, and my formal role with the firm started at the beginning of 2021. I commit to being as objective and honest as always, but be aware of my affiliation.
Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, just announced it’s moving forward with an 815-megawatt (MW) solar project called Sequoia in Texas. When it’s done, it’ll be one of the largest solar farms in North America. The project’s price tag is a hefty $1.1 billion.
Enbridge’s Sequoia, around 150 miles west of Dallas, has already landed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with AT&T and Toyota, ensuring most of its output is sold for years to come. This deal was highlighted in Enbridge’s third-quarter report on Friday.
Sequoia will be built in two phases, with power expected to start flowing in 2025 and 2026. Enbridge says it’s taken steps to reduce risks by securing equipment and procurement contracts in advance. Permits and purchase orders are also locked down.
Toyota’s PPA with Enbridge’s Texas solar project is part of Toyota’s broader push toward sustainability, as the automaker aims to achieve net zero by 2035 and match 45% of its purchased power with renewable electricity by 2026 as it still clings to its “diverse powertrain strategy.”
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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Environment
NIO’s EV sales top 20,000 for the sixth straight month as new low-cost SUV shows promise
With its new electric SUV rolling out, NIO’s (NIO) sales topped the 20,000 mark again in Oct, its sixth straight month hitting the milestone.
NIO sold 20,976 vehicles last month, up 30.5% from October 2023. The NIO brand sold 16,657 vehicles, while its new “family-oriented smart vehicle brand,” Onvo, contributed 4,319 in its first full sales month.
After launching its new mid-size Onvo L60 electric SUV in September, NIO said production and deliveries are steadily ramping up.
At the end of October, NIO’s Onvo had 166 Centers and Spaces throughout 60 cities. Onvo plans to continue expanding its network to drive future growth.
NIO’s new electric SUV starts at around $21,200 (149,900) and is a direct rival to Tesla’s Model Y. The base $21K model is if you rent the battery. Even with the battery included, Onvo L60 prices still start at under $30,000 (206,900 yuan), with a CLTC range of up to 341 miles (555 km). That’s still less than the Model Y.
Tesla’s Model Y RWD starts at around $35,000 (249,900 yuan) with 344 mi (554 km) CLTC range in China.
NIO’s new Onvo brand drives higher Oct sales
NIO has often compared its new electric SUV to the Model Y, claiming it’s superior in many ways. The L60 has better consumption at 12.1 kWh/100km compared to the Model Y at 12.5 kWh/100km).
With a longer wheelbase (2,950 mm vs 2,890 mm), NIO’s electric SUV also provides slightly more interior space.
Despite the L60’s success so far, NIO believes its second Onvo model will be an even bigger hit. It could be a potential game-changer.
“If you think the L60 is good, then this new model is a much more competitive product,” NIO’s CEO William Li told CnEVPost after launching the L60. Onvo will launch a new EV every year. Following the L60, Onvo will launch a new mid-to-large-size electric SUV next year.
NIO’s leader claims the new model will be revolutionary. According to Li, it will offer even more surprises than the L60. Deliveries are planned to begin in Q3 2025.
| NIO Onvo L60 vs Tesla Model Y trims | Range (CLTC) |
Starting Price |
| NIO Onvo L60 (Battery rental) | 555 km (341 mi) 730 km (454 mi) |
149,900 yuan ($21,200) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (60 kWh) | 555 km (341 mi) | 206,900 yuan ($29,300) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (85 kWh) | 730 km (454 mi) | 235,900 yuan ($33,400) |
| NIO Onvo L60 (150 kWh) | +1,000 km (+621 mi) | TBD |
| Tesla Model Y RWD | 554 km (344 mi) | 249,900 yuan ($34,600) |
| Tesla Model Y AWD Long Range | 688 km (427 mi) | 290,900 yuan ($40,300) |
| Tesla Model Y AWD Performance | 615 km (382 mi) | 354,900 yuan ($49,100) |
Local reports suggest a six-or seven-seat electric SUV could hit the market even sooner. With rumors of a launch around Q1 2025, deliveries could happen as soon as May 2025.
According to sources close to the matter, the L60 is just a “stepping stone” with even more exciting EVs on the way. The source claimed the new six-seat option will start at around $42,100 (300,000 yuan).
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Velotric Ebikes are designed by some of the most brilliant minds in the business. And now, you have the opportunity to own one (or two!) of these high-performance, elegant, reliable rides. You won’t want to miss these fantastic early-bird Black Friday deals running from November 1-14, and, also get a sneak peek at special offers that start on November 8.
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Velotric Black Friday deals – give to get back
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Velotric Discover 1 Plus Ebike
The Velotric Discover 1 Plus Ebike is a fantastic commuter bike that’s designed for comfort. (Plus, it’s kinda fun that it comes in five color choices.) If your commuting route is a bit more challenging, then the Discover 1 Plus might be the right fit for you. It features a rear light with braking high-beam, a 60 Lux front light, and double hydraulic disc brakes for extra safety. Plus, Velotric rigorously tests its frames 150,000 times under tough conditions for quality assurance.
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Don’t forget to use Velotric’s exclusive code for Electrek readers of Electrek20 at checkout to get an additional $20 OFF!
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