SMM12, March 11:, Largo Resources recently announced that Largo Clean Energy, a new company in Delaware, USA, focuses on providing long-term vanadium redox flow battery systems for the renewable energy storage market. The vanadium used for the battery will come from the 17690-hectare Marac á s Menchen mine in Lago (Largo), in the eastern state of Bahia in central Brazil.
The plant is expected to produce 11750 to 12250 tons of vanadium pentoxide by 2020. Largo uses raw materials to produce standard grade vanadium pentoxide, high purity vanadium pentoxide and high purity vanadium powder. LARGO CLEAN ENERGY will focus on providing long-term vanadium redox flow battery systems for the renewable energy storage market. According to the miner, one of the goals of creating Largo clean energy is to create more business and growth opportunities for its high-purity vanadium products under attractive overall economic conditions.
The new company will also focus on commercializing VRFB technology, previously owned by VionX Energy, which has been involved in the renewable energy storage market since 2002. Largo's Paulo Misk President and CEO said that it acquired patented VRFB electrolyte treatment technology, took advantage of industry-leading flow battery design, and provided Largo reliable, high-purity vanadium, resulting in a uniquely positioned renewable energy storage business.
Patented VRFB technology and proprietary vanadium electrolyte treatment systems provide cost-competitive performance over a life cycle of more than 20 years with normal performance degradation. In general, VRFB is intrinsically safe and does not cause fires due to heat runaway. In addition, the vanadium electrolyte can be recycled at the end of battery life for use in other VRFB devices.
Despite the promising outlook, Misk recognizes that its revenue will continue to be driven primarily by sales in the global steel industry as well as in the high-purity aerospace and chemical markets. "but as the demand for vanadium in global VRFB deployments grows over the next few years, we expect significant growth in the VRFB sector."
