Baterías de Flujo Redox: Nueva Tecnología para Generar Electricidad y Desalar Agua

El uso de baterías líquidas con tecnología redox podría permitir desalar agua y almacenar energía renovable con una sola tecnología.

Dos de los grandes retos a los que se enfrenta la humanidad en una época de emergencia climática y transición hacia las energías renovables son la obtención de agua potable y el almacenamiento de energía. Una de las soluciones más habituales y eficientes para el primer desafío es el uso de desalación por ósmosis inversa y de baterías para el segundo. Sin embargo, en los laboratorios ya hay científicos e ingenieros explorando nuevas tecnologías que podrían combinar ambas soluciones para avanzar en la transición energética. Hablamos de las baterías de flujo redox desaladoras o la tecnología de desalación por flujo redox (RFD, por sus siglas en inglés), un campo en el que la Universidad de Nueva York ha hecho avances considerables en fechas recientes.

¿Qué son las baterías de flujo redox?

Antes de explicar en qué consiste una batería de flujo redox desalinizadora, conviene entender el concepto general de las baterías redox. Esta tecnología funciona mediante el almacenamiento de energía en soluciones líquidas llamadas electrolitos, que contienen compuestos químicos capaces de cambiar de estado oxidado a reducido y viceversa.

Durante el funcionamiento, dos tipos diferentes de electrolitos se bombean desde tanques separados a través de una celda electroquímica central. En esta celda, los electrolitos interactúan a través de una membrana de intercambio iónico que permite el paso de iones, pero separa los dos líquidos. La reacción química que ocurre en esta celda genera electricidad, la cual puede ser utilizada o almacenada según se necesite.

Estas baterías tienen una vida útil prolongada, ya que soportan muchos ciclos de carga y descarga sin degradarse significativamente. Son particularmente útiles para el almacenamiento de energía renovable, como la energía solar o eólica, ya que pueden almacenar el exceso de energía generado y liberarlo cuando la producción es baja.

La nueva generación de baterías redox desaladoras

La desalación mediante flujo redox (RFD) es una técnica innovadora que combina la desalación de agua y el almacenamiento de energía en un solo sistema. En este caso, opera mediante la circulación de soluciones de sal y agentes redox a través de celdas electroquímicas. Las membranas de intercambio iónico separan estas soluciones, permitiendo la transferencia selectiva de iones, lo que resulta en la extracción de sal del agua de mar y la generación de agua dulce.

El proceso RFD no solo produce agua potable, sino que también permite almacenar energía excedente de fuentes renovables. Durante la desalación, el sistema puede almacenar energía en las moléculas redox y luego liberarla cuando sea necesario, al actuar como una batería. Esta capacidad de almacenamiento y liberación de energía es crucial para equilibrar la fluctuación en la demanda de energía renovable y agua.

Los avances de la Universidad de Nueva York

Tanto las baterías de flujo redox como los sistemas de desalación basados en esa tecnología están lejos de gozar de una implantación masiva. Las primeras adolecen de ciertas desventajas tales como la necesidad de usar grandes tanques de almacenamiento debido a su escasa densidad energética, mientras que los segundos aún se encuentran en fase experimental. Sin embargo, la Universidad de Nueva York ha logrado mejorar la desalación por flujo redox por medio de un nuevo enfoque que aumenta en un 20 % la eficiencia en la desalación.

El sistema RFD que han desarrollado utiliza una estructura de cuatro canales separados por membranas de intercambio iónico (IEM, por sus siglas en inglés). La investigación destaca que aumentar la velocidad de flujo en los canales de electrolito reduce la resistencia en la interfaz electrolito-membrana. Esto mejora significativamente la eliminación de sal y la eficiencia energética del sistema. Por ejemplo, al aumentar la velocidad de flujo de 5 a 50 mL/min se incrementa la tasa de eliminación de sal en 16,7 veces y, a la vez, se reduce el consumo de energía.

En la actualidad, la tecnología más habitual para almacenar energía renovable son las baterías de litio, pero quién sabe si las baterías de flujo redox están llamadas a desempeñar un papel relevante en la descarbonización de la economía y, en paralelo, contribuyan a paliar las necesidades de agua potable.

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