Quino Energy is a startup founded in 2021 from a Harvard laboratory, developing flowing (= redox flow) batteries whose electrolytes are said to be particularly available and low in toxicity.
Quino Energy flow batteries (redox flow)
The originality of the Quino Energy project lies in the use of quinone and ferrocyanide as electrolytes for its redox battery. These components are very easy to find: quinones are produced from wood and coal residues
They are also biodegradable and non-toxic. Quinones are found, for example, in dyes, henna and food: vitamin K1, phylloquinone, belongs to this family.
One of the problems with this technology is that quinones are not a stable storage medium, as the molecules change. In June 2022, the start-up’s researchers published a mechanism by which these molecules (2,6-dihydroxy-anthraquinone (DHAQ)) could be “regenerated”:
Jing, Y., Zhao, E.W., Goulet, MA. et al. In situ electrochemical recomposition of decomposed redox-active species in aqueous organic flow batteries. Nat. Chem. 14, 1103-1109 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022-00967-4
You can find the 4 scientific articles published on this topic, which I haven’t gone into in depth, at this link: https://quinoenergy.com/technology/. The innovation seems to be at a very early stage of research.
History and financing of Quino Energy
Quino Energy’s redox flow battery was conceived at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as part of research led by Michael Aziz and Roy Gordon. Together with Eugene Behet (also CEO) and Meisam Bahari, the latter two founded Quino Energy in 2021. The laboratory has given the company a license to commercially exploit the process. The company is based in San Leandro, California (USA).
In 2022, the company received a grant of $4.58 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and raised $3.3 million from ANRI and TechEnegy Ventures.
FAQ
How much funding does Quino Energy have?
Quino Energy is still at a very early stage and has only raised $3.4 million.
What is Quino Energy’s innovation?
Quino Energy is one of a number of startups developing redox flow batteries, which have the particularity of being able to store electricity for a long time without degradation, and of having a high storage capacity for relatively few materials. Their solution is based on quinone and ferrocyanide electrolytes.
- A comprehensive presentation (Oct. 2022): https://www.chemeurope.com/fr/news/1178206/une-batterie-redox-flow-innovante.html