High-Efficiency Mineral Recovery System with Reduced Waste Output
Project Update
The project kicked off April 2025. Since then, UNIGRID has moved to its new location in San Diego where the project will be conducted. UNIGRID staff were trained on the pilot line equipment at the end of 2025, and the purchased equipment has been delivered to the San Diego location. Set-up and validation of the battery fabrication equipment will follow.
The Issue
Energy storage must become widespread to overcome the intermittency of renewable energy generation. Adequate energy storage capacity will stabilize the grid and in turn enable adoption of more renewables for cleaner energy generation, allowing California to hit its clean energy goals. The current state-of-the-art energy storage technology to serve this purpose is lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, LIBs have the following major challenges to for residential, commercial, and utility-scale energy storage systems:
1. They are too costly for energy storage applications, especially in the residential sector.
2. They present safety hazards, such as battery failure or fire during a short circuit or when operated under harsh environments and extreme temperatures.
3. They rely on imported critical materials such as lithium and cobalt that face growing supply chain challenges and ethical concerns about extraction methods and labor practices.
4. They are hazardous to the environment due to the toxic materials used in their fabrication.
Project Innovation
UNIGRID’s advanced sodium-ion batteries (NIB), featuring an innovative alloy anode and sodium chromium cathode, offer a promising alternative chemistry that overcomes the challenges that LIBs face. In addition to increased safety, advanced NIBs have increased energy density compared to conventional NIBs, making them comparable to some commercially available LIBs (such as those using Lithium Iron Phosphate, or LFP, cathodes). When produced at scale, the recipient’s NIBs could also be cheaper ($75/kWh projected manufacturing cost) than current commercially available LIBs with LFP cathodes (>$100/kWh). Additionally, sodium-based materials can be sourced domestically, reducing the import reliance and supply chain challenges faced by conventional LIB materials, such as lithium and cobalt. A new, safe, battery chemistry for stationary energy storage can make the grid more resilient and reliable.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
Compared to current state-of-the-art storage technologies, the UNIGRID advanced sodium-ion battery technology offers a unique combination of 1) lower cost at scale than LFP batteries (since sodium-ion batteries only use abundant materials), 2) improved battery safety and operating temperature range, 3) much higher energy densities than other types of sodium or lead acid batteries. When scaled up, the recipient’s NIBs could be cheaper ($75/kWh projected manufacturing cost) than current commercially available LIBs due to only using abundant materials. UNIGRID’s advanced sodium-ion batteries also do not catch fire, a significant safety advantage to allay consumer concerns about residential storage. Lastly, using the alloy anode, volumetric energy densities can be on par with those of LIBs. The project at scale will also create jobs in California and support California’s clean energy goals.
Reliability
Advanced sodium battery cells produced through this project have much higher energy densities compared to other types of sodium or lead acid batteries. This will allow consumers and end-users to mitigate the intermittency of renewable energy generation and could enable a new product for stationary storage.
Safety
Systems made with the cells from this project are not flammable and have improved battery safety and operating temperature range.
Key Project Members
Yongchun Tang
James Suubam
John Ma
Megan Sun
Subrecipients
Match Partners
