Offre de stage
A regenerative lead acid battery for energy storage
A regenerative lead acid battery for energy storage
Section: Electrical Engineering, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Material Science
Place: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Start Date: To be discussed
Duration: 2-4 Months
Hosting Structure: EssentialTech Center
Project Overview:
Africa is a gigantic territory that will be difficult or impossible to electrify unless we make microgrids powered by renewable energy such as solar or wind power. To do this we must have inexpensive storage batteries, resistant to heat (this is not the case of lithium batteries), which do not generate unmanageable waste and are regenerable if possible. This is especially important in healthcare (health dispensaries), where energy is a vital necessity.
At the time, truck batteries could easily be opened to scrape the lead oxide that formed on the surface of the lead plates, and the missing sulfuric acid was completed. Thus, ion exchange was again possible and the battery was reusable.
The project involves designing a lead-acid battery that can be easily opened, easily regenerated and becomes virtually indestructible. The use case is health dispensaries first. It should be able to be made in Africa, and deployed via a social business. Currently, it is impossible to open a battery without breaking it and there are no more lead plates but lead sheets. This design means that these batteries can not be regenerated easily. Recreating a regenerable battery requires an acid-resistant plastic container, lead and sulfuric acid. The lead can be recycled lead from car batteries, the lead melts at 330 ° C, so it is not difficult to melt it to make plates. To make sulfuric acid, suffice to have sulfur and water and finally there is enough plastic to recycle in Africa to create recycled plastic bins. Once the batteries are installed, we can train local people to maintain the batteries. Once they show signs of fatigue, the person comes in, opens the battery, scrapes the lead oxide that formed on the lead plates, completes the sulfuric acid and the battery is ready for a new cycle. Thus, these batteries are practically indestructible.
Required skills: The intern will preferably be knowledgeable in electricity/chemistry/material sciences. The intern must have an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong dynamism, while being self motivated and interested in the topic.
Other Comments: any Accomodation or Meals are provided
Contact : klaus.schonenberger@epfl.ch