From the article: Sounds promising! But so do other energy startups. I think the lesson here is that there are a lot of dark-horse candidates and it’s difficult to predict what energy storage will...
From the article:
The startup begins with calcium hydroxide, a widely available material that’s used in everything from paper making and sewage treatment to pickling and nixtamalization, the process that turns cornmeal into masa for tortillas. On its own, calcium hydroxide is a powdery substance, which isn’t ideal for Cache’s process. If the granule size is too small, it’s liable to blow away, so the company figured out how to bind the powder so it holds up over time.
But the pellets can’t be too large, either, or they’ll stymie the next step in the process: the reaction that stores and releases energy. “We iterated a lot on the size,” Dwivedi said.
When Cache’s pellets are heated, they give off water vapor, leaving behind calcium oxide, or quicklime. That’s the “charged” state for the battery. To discharge, Cache feeds the pellets through the same gravity-fed reactor, suffusing them with moisture to reverse the reaction and produce heat. The overall efficiency of the system is around 95%, Dwivedi said.
Cache’s pellets can produce heat at up to 550 degrees C, which would cover the bulk of industrial processes as well as the heat and hot water needs of commercial and residential buildings. Dwivedi said one shipping container worth of Cache’s pellets would be enough to get a couple office buildings through the winter. The company is working on a new version that will be able to generate heat at up to 900 degrees C, widening the range of industries it can sell to.
Sounds promising! But so do other energy startups. I think the lesson here is that there are a lot of dark-horse candidates and it’s difficult to predict what energy storage will look like. I’m optimistic that it will be solved somehow, but maybe in a way we haven’t heard of yet?
From the article:
Sounds promising! But so do other energy startups. I think the lesson here is that there are a lot of dark-horse candidates and it’s difficult to predict what energy storage will look like. I’m optimistic that it will be solved somehow, but maybe in a way we haven’t heard of yet?