Tree-Based Batteries: A Sustainable Energy Storage Solution:- Finland-based Stora Enso, one of the world’s largest owners of private forests, has a sustainable solution to the world’s increasing demand for energy storage: batteries made from trees. In partnership with Swiss battery maker Altris, Stora Enso is exploring using Lignode, a potential replacement for graphite in batteries.
With the world rapidly switching to cleaner sources of energy through solar and wind farms, there is an increased demand for solutions that can store excess energy generated on sunny or windy days.
Lithium-based batteries are the most energy-dense solutions we have. Still, the supply chain for making these batteries is tilted heavily in favor of China. Countries in the West completely depend on China to secure their energy transition, prompting a change in how energy is stored.
This passage describes an innovative partnership between Stora Enso, a major forest owner, and Altris, a battery developer, to create a sustainable solution for energy storage: batteries made from trees.
Here’s a breakdown of the key points:
- The Problem:
- The rise of solar and wind power is growing demand for energy storage.
- Reliance on China for lithium-ion batteries, a critical component for storing energy and powering electronics.
- The Alternative:
- Sodium-ion batteries: Developed by Altris, these batteries offer a potential replacement for lithium-ion batteries and can be made with abundant sodium.
- Lignode: Developed by Stora Enso, this bio-based material from tree byproducts (lignin) can replace graphite in battery anodes.
- Benefits:
- Reduced reliance on China: Creates a European supply chain for battery components.
- Sustainability: Utilizes a renewable resource (trees) and reduces reliance on mined materials.
- Potential for wider application: Lignode could be used in both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries.
Alternate energy storage solutions
Interesting Engineering has previously reported on how companies and even European governments are building large-scale energy storage solutions that do not use lithium. However, lithium-based batteries are also core components of technological advances such as mobile phones, laptops, and even electric cars.
Switzerland-based Altris develops sodium-based batteries, a potential replacement for lithium batteries. Made using abundantly available sodium, these batteries and other similarly innovative tech can help the West develop its own supply chain.
A spin-off from Uppsala University, Altris can develop cathodes, electrolytes, battery cells, and factory blueprints for commercial-scale battery production, making it ideal for developing a new type of battery from trees.
Batteries from trees
Stora Enso uses its forest reserves to manufacture pulp, of which lignin is a by-product. A naturally occurring polymer, lignin makes up to 30 percent of a tree and is abundantly available.
Lignin also contains carbon, which makes it suitable for making the anode or the positive electrode in a battery, whether based on lithium or sodium ions. Stora Enso developed the tech at its pilot plant in Kotka, Finland, and refers to it as Lignode.
Currently, anodes are made from graphite, whose supply is controlled by China. By using a material that is a by-product of another industrial process, the companies aim to set up a more stable and consistent supply chain for the production of anodes in Europe.
“Bio-based materials are key to improving the sustainability of battery cells,” said Juuso Konttinen, Senior Vice President & Head of Biomaterials Growth at Stora Enso. “With Lignode having the potential to become the most sustainable anode material in the world, this partnership with Altris aligns perfectly with our common commitment to support the ambition on more sustainable electrification.”
“At Altris, we strive to establish a local supply chain and leverage abundant and clean materials to develop sodium-ion batteries,” said Björn Mårlid, CEO of Altris said in a press release.
“Therefore, it’s exciting to team up with Stora Enso and take part in their establishment of a Europe-based tree-to-anode supply chain. We are looking forward to the partnership evolving over the coming years, with the aim to commercialise the world’s most sustainable battery.”
