Tydrolyte LLC is introducing a patent-pending electrolyte solution for automotive, motive, and stationary storage lead-acid battery manufacturers. Tydrolyte is a less toxic drop-in replacement for sulfuric acid in lead batteries. The global lead battery market is expected to reach $84.46 billion by 2025 according market research firm Grand View Research.

The Tydrolyte electrolyte offers three main benefits, according to the company.

• Lower charge resistance, higher charge acceptance, and improved round trip efficiency. A stop/start battery may need to start the car engine more than one hundred times more often during its lifetime than a traditional battery. It is also required to support new loads such as an electrical AC compressor to ensure the AC is not disabled when the engine is shut down. Therefore, a stop/start battery must be charged more aggressively than a traditional automotive battery, and this requires the battery to accept much higher levels of charging without overheating and with higher efficiency.

  Testing cited by the company found DC charge resistance is 12-19% lower for Tydrolyte over the critical partial State of Charge (pSOC) range of 10-20% State of Discharge/90-80% State of Charge needed for stop/start and micro-hybrid vehicles.

  Preliminary results also indicate that the new electrolyte significantly improves round-trip efficiency. Further efficiency testing is planned.

• Reduced hold current, water loss, and positive plate corrosion. Top battery manufacturers/suppliers are testing Tydrolyte for water loss and corrosion using industry standard automotive life tests (EN50342-1 and VW-75073). EN50342-1 is an industry standard test for automotive accelerated life testing by using high temperature 60 ˚C and continuous charging at 14.4V. Since the battery is fully charged the hold current energy delivers destructive energy for positive plate corrosion, water loss and heat dissipation.

  Testing results showed that Tydrolyte significantly reduces hold current by approximately 24% and this improvement continues to increase as the battery ages. Testing results demonstrate than Tydrolyte reduces hold current, water loss and likely positive electrode corrosion.

• Replacement of sulfuric acid with less toxic substitute. Tydrolyte is less toxic than sulfuric acid, and is expected to be classified as non-toxic by U.S. DOT and EPA guidelines when appropriate testing is completed. A slightly different, lower concentration formulation has been successfully tested and classified as non-toxic. A non-toxic classification will help manufacturers eliminate a wide range of costs associated with use of sulfuric acid.

The lead–acid battery consisting of lead, lead oxide, and a sulfuric acid electrolyte was invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté. Lead batteries have been and continue to be the most popular rechargeable battery with more than 400 GWh shipped annually according to market research firm Avicenne Energy. This is equivalent to more than 400 giga-factories of established capacity spread throughout world.

In spite of its historic success, many aspects of lead battery chemistry are not fully understood, and this provides a significant opportunity to further enhance the performance of world’s most popular rechargeable battery technology.

We are delighted to welcome Tydrolyte into membership of the ALABC, and strongly support companies such as Tydrolyte in pursuing innovative new solutions to the challenge of improving lead battery performance. There is a bright future for the lead battery, but it is essential that the industry continues to drive innovation to meet future market requirements. We look forward to working with Tydrolyte in the future.

—Dr. Boris Monahov, PhD, program manager at the Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC)