Beyond Lithium BioZen Batteries

🚀 “It’s not rocket science,” someone once told Mike Berger, Stryten Energy’s Director of Product Engineering. "Yes," he agreed. “It’s probably even a little more complicated than rocket science because really it takes chemistry, electricity, materials, and electrochemistry.” Listen to this episode to understand what he’s talking about in discussion with BioZen’s CEO Nate Kirchhofer.

Stryten Energy is a US manufacturer of high-quality lead (Pb) batteries, lithium (Li) batteries, and vanadium (V) redox flow batteries (RFBs)—as well as chargers and performance management software. Their variety of Industrial Pb battery production plants are concentrated in the US Midwest, whereas their Innovation Centers are located in Ottowa (Li-ion) and Denver (VRFBs). Overall, with 2.5 million sq ft of manufacturing space and 2500 employees, Stryten cranks out 14 GWh of energy storage products per year, putting them at #3 in the US, and they address four major market segments:


Essential Power: telecom, utilities, microgrids, residential solar, security
Motive Power: 90% of it is forklifts, as well as chargers
and performance management tools
Transportation: batteries for automotive e, truck, SUV,
heavy duty, agriculture, marine
Military and Government: submarines, micro grids, combat vehicles, ground logistics

Mike brings a wealth of insights from his 30 years of experience in Pb acid batteries. We learn about tradeoffs in performance / cost / design decisions to make a battery that meets customer requirements at a good value, and how Pb batteries compare to Li-ion. We also learn about some of the biggest challenges in scaling up energy storage to meet the demand needed in the next 10-20 years: “I think the scale is by far my biggest concern for alternative energy storage, regardless of which chemistry. And that's why I believe that all chemistries are going to be needed because I think they're all going to serve a purpose,” he says, concluding that “Pb chemistry [is] available, affordable, recyclable, safe, reliable and well-understood. We shouldn't dismiss Pb technology just because of its age. I think there's a great opportunity to optimize Pb for these new challenges that are before us.”

Stick around for more facts about Stryten and the Pb industry:


90% of Pb batteries used & sold in the US are made in the US.
Over 99% of Pb batteries are recycled, and 100% of the Pb that Stryten uses is recycled. The plastic, and in some cases even the acid, can be recycled.
Pb has historically been a health risk, but the immense history of innovation, engineering controls, and personal protective equipment now prevent exposure.
99% show a path for value retention and a circular recycling economy.
Pb batteries were perfected in the field. In comparison, Li-ion batteries were designed and perfected in the lab. Because of this, lab R&D for Pb batteries will improve efficiency, cycle life, and applications.
The Pb industry is old, but they have committed to novel pre-competitive joint R&D with national labs, such as the recently awarded $5M in DOE funding to establish the Consortium for Lead Battery Leadership in Long Duration Energy Storage including Stryten and 7 other BCI-member Pb-battery companies.
Remote EV Fast Charging stations may be a great
application for Pb batteries due to their safety and reliability.
Stryten's Li-ion and VRFB verticals (acquired in the past few years) makes them technology-agnostic and able to deliver a solution to a given customer application (though current bulk of their production is Pb)



Recorded 17 January 2024.


[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes.]


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🏭 For the electric utilities, what is the most important metric for energy storage technology? What is the rule of 17%? What is dunkelflaute?! For answers, we turn to Kieran Claffey of Southern Company in discussion with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. To add some weight to Kieran's opinion, consider that as of 2021, Southern Company is the second largest utility company in the US, serving 9 million gas and electric customers in 6 states and delivering electricity to 120,000 square miles of territory.

The Department of Energy targets a $0.05/kWh levelized cost of storage (LCOS) as a key performance parameter for energy storage technology. Kieran emphasizes that utilities instead employ a comprehensive approach considering approximately 30 parameters, including geographic flexibility, energy density, power density, and lots more. The most important? Reliability, and CapEx.

Kieran highlights the utilities' need for safe and cost-effective 10-hour duration batteries, which is (and will likely continue to be) beyond lithium-ion's capabilities, even though Li-ion will serve mobile applications and durations 6 h.

This insight is possible because Kieran is a subject matter expert in energy storage at Southern Company: his experience ranges from startups making microwatt (1e-6 W) solid lithium batteries, to now where he considers gigawatt (1e9 W) projects, all within the context of regulations like NFPA 855. This enabled him to publish a peer-reviewed manuscript recently, entitiled "Hazards of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS), mitigation strategies, minimum requirements, and best practices." In that paper the authors emphasize the importance of proper spacing to prevent battery fires, and dispels myths about the frequency of Li-ion battery explosion events: the probability is about 1 in 1400 (at worst), making these systems at least an order of magntude safer than the common claim of "1 in 100 fail."

We get a few predictions about the future energy storage mix: that Li-ion and sodium-ion will dominate short-duration storage (0-6 hours), while thermal energy storage and flow batteries may be suitable for medium durations (6-12 hours). For longer durations (12-100 hours), options include pumped hydro, compressed air energy storage, and new battery technologies; hydrogen will likely be one of those, but it seems that a mature hydrogen economy is still a couple decades away due to costs, and everything pales in comparison to the 47 days 😲 of fossil fuel stock in the US.

Stick around for a little career advice within the broader goal of contributing to decarbonization—whether through new energy storage technology or even fossil fuels—and tidbits about the burgeoning cleantech scene in Georgia ($20B invested for 20,000 jobs in the southeast in the last 4 years).

Power on.


Recorded 29 November 2023.


[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes.]


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🐝 What is >100X more energy dense (33 kWh/kg) than Li-ion batteries (0.3kW/kg), and why is it so hard to store it at room temperature? What is a naturally-occurring gas that can be uniquely compressed into a non-toxic, non-flammable liquid at room temperature? And, how is beekeeping like energy storage cleantech?! To answer these questions, we're joined by Cullen Quine. He provides insights on his team's work, both as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and as Co-Founder of Activated Energy (unaffiliated with NREL), in conversation with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer.

At NREL, Cullen's team focuses on addressing the challenges associated with hydrogen (H2) storage: H2 has low volumetric energy density as a gas, and to increase that energy density, it must be liquefied, which requires energy and an extremely cold temperature of -423°F (-253°C or 20 Kelvin). The main issue then arises during the transfer between containers: to cryogenic liquid H2, everything looks scorching hot, so it flash boils, leading to significant boil-off losses. His solution employs a solid-state material to absorb the gas as it boils off, allowing for recapture and reuse, mitigating losses. This is critical research because H2 has many advantages as a storage medium, including the separation of Power and Energy (which conventional batteries fail at), but there are not good materials for storing it at ambient temperature (where Li-ion currently shines) despite proficiency storing at both cryogenic and hot temperatures.

At Activated Energy (one of the 27 companies in CalSEED Cohort 6 along with BioZen), Cullen's team is working to revolutionize energy storage with a system based on compressed liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2). The system discharges energy by releasing the high-pressure liquid CO2 through a turboexpander and then storing it in a low pressure solid state medium. This technology may be particularly appealing for urban environments due to its safety that addresses concerns associated with deploying energy-dense devices near residential areas.

Hang around for some discussion of efficiency, market segmentation, NIMBYism, and some advice from Cullen for individuals interested in entering the renewable energy or clean tech sectors. Hint: it's all about the people!

Recorded 14 November 2023.



BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes.

If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support


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🌡 What's the difference between a heat pump and a heat engine? What is synchronous inertia? What are the four horses pulling the chariot of a startup company? Why does a technology need its own sandbox? For answers, we're joined by Ben Bollinger, a career early-stage tech startup pro, PhD scientist, and currently VP of Strategic Initiatives at Malta Inc.—where they're working on molten salt thermal energy storage for grid-scale synchronous long duration energy storage (LDES). See Ben's slides here.

Ben tells BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer that Malta's mission is "to enable the broader deployment of intermittent renewables and help with the energy transition decarbonization." The discussion ranges from the California "Duck Curve" and why we need to time-shift energy generated during the day to when it's needed at night, to Malta's electricity-in-electricity-out molten salt thermal energy storage, to considerations of marginal costs and separation of Power and Energy (a hallmark of LDES), to "policy and remuneration" being the biggest challenge for alternative energy storage. 

Stick around to hear about the present load following capability of gas and coal plants and how incentives are moving LDES towards that role (internationally!) and away from its problematic classification as either a power plant (while discharging) or end-user load (while charging). This is critical because renewable wind and solar generation plants cannot turn their power output up and down to follow people's consumption of electricity—necessitating complementary storage. "And that's where technologies like Malta come in, that can provide those same synchronous inertia, short circuit current, resiliency, and the other grid stability attributes that really complement the clean kilowatt hours that are produced by solar and wind," says Ben. That's also what the recently-formed LDES Council is advocating for. 

The conversation finishes with some international trends in energy storage policy, Malta's recent funding announcement with Siemens Energy as a strategic investor, the 9-figure cost scales of 100 MW scale energy projects (which is beyond the scope of VC) that requires consortia of companies to achieve rather than single startup companies, and some startup journey advice from Ben. Get in touch with Malta at info@maltainc.com.


Recorded 19 Dec 2023.


[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]


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🚗 What is the most recycled product in the world, with 99.7% being collected into the recycling stream? Where does it get used beyond the starter / lighting / ignition functions in your car? Why does it have such a bad rap, and why should you in fact be excited about it? To answer these questions, we bring in Matt Raiford and Alyssa McQuilling from the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) to talk with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer.

CBI is a global research organization, with over 130 member organizations, dedicated to improving lead battery performance across various applications. The consortium is committed to both applied and fundamental pre-competitive research, working on projects ranging from evaluating new lead battery technology in residential installations to in-situ neutron diffraction studies of lead battery electrodes.

While lead batteries may not match lithium-ion in energy density (nor need to), they excel in robustness, safety, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness, particularly in stationary applications like telecom and broadband backup systems. Lead batteries pose lower fire risks, have well-established end-of-life plans, and maintain a fully established circular economy from over 100 years of research and manufacturing..

The discussion moves to a few unique lead battery projects such as microgrids, solar/battery-powered tractors, and the unique harvesting of (typically undesireable) electrolyzed hydrogen from the battery as a source of energy.

Looking at the future, we discuss the challenges and potential of energy storage, underlining the necessity for better performance, particularly in terms of cycle life and total energy output: By 2030, energy storage systems will need to exist on the terawatt/terawatt-hour scale, necessitating a diverse mix of technologies, including lead batteries.

Recorded 28 Nov 2023


[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/beyondlithium/support]


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💡 Can you trademark a sound? Why can you only patent "non-obvious" inventions? Who decides what is non-obvious? What is Enablement and how does the Supreme Court's ruling on it affect cleantech?! For answers to these questions and lots more, today's episode features Brendan Serapiglia, PhD and Jason Feldmar—partners and intellectual property (IP) attorneys at Gates & Cooper LLP—in discussion with BioZen's CEO Nate Kirchhofer. Brendan's technical background is in Materials Physics and he focuses on high-tech and university clients, whereas Jason's technical background is in Computer Science with a focus on software inventions as well as Gates & Cooper's Trademark portfolio.

Tune in to learn first what exactly a patent or trademark is, how they are different, reasons to apply for them, and how they're strategically valuable especially in the context of high-tech and clean energy sectors. A recent Supreme Court ruling in a case with Amgen has influenced Enablement ("to enable any person skilled in the art . . . to make and use the [invention]," or describing how to make and use the full scope of what is claimed). From this ruling, patent applications will likely have more stringent requirements for describing how to make and use the full scope of claimed inventions, especially in fields like chemistry and alternative energy where you're dealing with an "unpredictable art." The discussion also touches on so-called "101 issues" (35 U.S.C. 101 requirements), also known as what constitutes patentable subject matter; patenting abstract ideas or natural phenomena is difficult, as is defining and claiming cleantech and software inventions in ways that satisfy these legal requirements.

The human art of crafting patent claims is another focal point of the discussion. Defining claims in a manner that convinces a patent examiner and captures a wide range of potential infringements without overstepping the actual scope of the invention is vital for both enforcing and making them sufficiently broad to be commercially valuable.

Often seen as controversial players in the IP landscape, Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) hold patents but don't necessarily implement the technologies themselves, often agressively litigating. Patents serve as both a "sword" and a "shield" in business strategy, offensively to sue for infringement or defensively to deter lawsuits and encourage cross-licensing.

Recent market trends have shifted focus in patent and trademark filings toward battery technology: In 2023, over 1000 Li-ion patents were published, whereas long duration energy storage (LDES) mechanisms like flywheels, flow batteries, supercapacitors, thermal storage, etc were all at ~100 per year—an order of magnitude less. Read: non-lithium energy storage is a potential greenfield market opportunity.

The discussion highlights that IP is a critical component of business strategy, especially for startups and universities: IP assets can be crucial for attracting investment and establishing a competitive edge in the market.

Additionally, the conversation covers the implications of H.R.4346 Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, 2022 legislation aimed at boosting technology development in underserved communities. This act is part of a broader trend where the government is encouraging job creation and technology development through strategic collaborations, often involving universities feeding their technology into their local ecosystems through startup spinout and IP.


Recorded 8 November 2023.


[BioZen Batteries produces this show as part of the Clean Power Media Group at cleanpower.media. If you would like to interact more, please send us an email at ⁠⁠⁠hello@biozenbatteries.com⁠⁠⁠, write a comment, like, follow, share, or even leave us a voice message on your favorite episodes. If you like our content, please support production with a recurring monthly donation here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh