Allegro Energy, an Australian startup, is developing flow batteries for grid energy storage. Its electrolyte is a water-based microemulsion of water, oil and surfactant, made without lithium or rare earths and described as non-flammable and fully recyclable. A commercial pilot is under way at Eraring Power Station.
Flow batteries pump liquid electrolyte from external tanks through a cell stack. Allegro’s engineers moved from on-premises open-source tools to SimScale’s cloud-based CFD to study both parts:
- Storage tanks: Simulations of electrolyte, nitrogen headspace and residence time examine mixing, since unmixed electrolyte can leave capacity unused.
- Cell stack: Parametric simulations vary channel design and felt compression, aiming to balance pressure drop with even flow.
The case study shows how cloud simulation supports flow design decisions before fabrication.
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