An application of acetonitrile leaching and disproportionation.

Towards a thermally regenerative all-copper redox flow battery

“…100 mm agglomerates with a small signal for CuO measureable. Acetonitrile could be then be collected by condensation from the gas phase, as described by Parker et al 8 Fig. 3 shows that copper powder and CuSO 4 solution can be easily recovered by thermal regeneration.…”

“…5 This principle was utilized in copper leaching by Parker et al in the 1980s: CuSO 4 -solutions containing 6 M of acetonitrile were used for leaching of segregated copper from roasted copper sulfide concentrates and ores. 8 Selective leaching of copper was achieved with careful control of pH, and copper could be recovered as microparticles by distilling off the acetonitrile.…”

Thermally regenerative copper nanoslurry flow batteries for heat-to-power conversion with low-grade thermal energy

“…On the other hand, higher cell voltages can be achieved with thermally regenerative batteries, where thermal reactions induce a chemical reaction to charge the battery. Most thermally regenerative batteries are based on copper [20][21][22] or silver 23 complexation with ammonia or acetonitrile 24,25 in aqueous solutions. The removal or addition of the complexing agent is used to change or even inverse the cell voltage, [20][21][22] or to induce disproportionation of a Cu(I) complex to produce Cu and Cu(II) as described below.…”

“…The removal or addition of the complexing agent is used to change or even inverse the cell voltage, [20][21][22] or to induce disproportionation of a Cu(I) complex to produce Cu and Cu(II) as described below. 24,25 Cu and Cu(II) can then be discharged in a battery to produce electricity. The advantage of these systems is that in addition to heat-to-power conversion, they are also able to store energy.…”

“…Therefore, a higher boiling point co-solvent such as water 24 or propylene carbonate utilized in this work is required to realize thermal charging. As acetonitrile forms an azeotrope with water (distillation results in removal of both water and acetonitrile), 25 replacement of water with another high boiling point co-solvent allows reduction in the energy demand for the thermal regeneration step. While a thermally regenerative copper battery employing 30% aqueous acetonitrile solution has a maximum theoretical efficiency of ca.…”