Vanadium becoming a "critical metal" overview

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Vanadium has become a critical mineral of high importance for several reasons, including its use in energy storage systems and its potential applications in aerospace and defense industries.


Energy Storage: Vanadium is widely used in energy storage systems, particularly in vanadium redox flow batteries, which have been gaining popularity in recent years due to their ability to store large amounts of renewable energy. These batteries are used to stabilize the electrical grid, improve energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With the growing demand for renewable energy, vanadium is becoming increasingly important as a key component of these energy storage systems.


Aerospace and Defense: Vanadium is also a critical material for aerospace and defense industries, where it is used to make high-strength, lightweight alloys for aircraft engines and structural components. It is also used in armor plating and other military applications, such as missiles and rocket engines.


Steel Production: Vanadium is used as an alloying element in steel production, which enhances the strength, ductility, and toughness of steel. This makes vanadium essential in the production of high-strength steel used in construction, transportation, and other industrial applications.


Global Demand: The global demand for vanadium has been increasing in recent years, driven by the growing demand for steel and energy storage systems. This has led to concerns about potential supply shortages and increased efforts to explore and develop new sources of vanadium.


Given its importance in energy storage, aerospace and defense industries, and steel production, vanadium has become a critical mineral of high importance in today's economy. https://richmondvanadium.com.au/vanadium/ an excellent up to date on Vanadium

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The VRFB is a type of rechargeable flow battery that uses vanadium electrolyte dissolved in solution was pioneered by Maria Skyllas-Kazacos AM FTSE (born 1951) an Australian chemical engineer best known for her pioneering work of the vanadium redox battery.


Vanadium has a unique characteristic of having four different stages of oxidation, which allows the VRFB to store energy in four different states.

The electrolyte that stores the energy is housed in external tanks, which allows the power and energy density of the VRFB to be scaled up independently of each other.

This makes the VRFB a very adaptable energy storage system, with kilowatt capacities ideal for residential and commercial applications and megawatt capacities for the power grid and stand-alone storage systems for solar and wind farm installations.

The largest VRFB development in the world is the Dalian /Rongke Power energy storage system, which has a capacity of 100 MW/400MWh.

The VRFB could prompt increases in the use of renewable, intermittent power sources.

The VRFB is considered to be a safe and environmentally friendly technology.

The VRFB is a scalable technology, which means that it can be used for a variety of applications.

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Summary of ABC News Science re VRBF - Thu 2 Feb 2023 at 5:30amThursday 2 Feb 2023 at 5:30am, updated Thu 2 Feb 2023

The article discusses the potential of vanadium redox flow batteries for grid energy storage. Vanadium redox flow batteries are a type of battery that uses vanadium ions in an electrolyte solution to store energy. They are known for their long lifespan, high efficiency, and scalability. The article discusses how vanadium redox flow batteries could be used to store energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, and provide backup power during outages. The article also discusses some of the challenges that need to be addressed before vanadium redox flow batteries can be widely deployed, such as the cost of the batteries and the need for a large amount of space to store the electrolyte solution.

Here are some key points from the article:

Vanadium redox flow batteries are a promising technology for grid energy storage.
They have a long lifespan, high efficiency, and scalability.
They could be used to store energy from renewable sources and provide backup power during outages.

There are some challenges that need to be addressed before vanadium redox flow batteries can be widely deployed, such as the cost of the batteries and the need for a large amount of space to store the electrolyte solution.


The world's largest VRFB, installed in China last year, has 100MW of power and a capacity of 400MWh, or enough to meet the electricity demand of 200,000 residents for a day.