TIDMGELN
RNS Number : 1792F
Gelion PLC
06 July 2023
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6 July 2023
Gelion plc
("Gelion" or the "Company")
Zinc Bromide Cell Research Programme and Lithium Sulfur
development update
Strong technological advances made for both Gelion technologies
- Zinc Battery Solution and Lithium Sulfur
Gelion (AIM: GELN), the Anglo-Australian battery innovator, is
pleased to provide an update on the strategic evaluation of its
Zinc battery solution and on advances made on its Lithium Sulfur
technology.
HIGHLIGHTS
Zinc Battery Solution
-- The Company's match to market analysis to define the
operational parameters of Gelion's zinc bromide ('ZnBr(2) ')
battery highlighted the need to balance three key priorities -
safety, energy density and cost and consistent with this, the
12-month ZnBr(2) research programme ("R&D Programme") was
launched earlier this year.
-- Strong early progress has been made on the anode side, with
significantly improved zinc plating behaviour, achieving improved
system behaviour (reducing and potentially eliminating the need to
fully discharge the battery periodically for maintenance), however,
the R&D Programme also identified potential safety concerns on
the cathode side, arising from efficacy of the approach of
sequestering bromine in the battery.
-- Gelion continued R&D for the cathode, and it has now
identified and is migrating to a zinc solution that avoids the
potential safety concerns arising from sequestering bromine.
Successful validation is expected to result in a technology with
safety, energy density and cost ambitions achieved at the same
time.
-- Gelion expects to validate the potential of this technology
over the next six months and report back in early 2024, keeping in
line with the timelines communicated for the current R&D
Programme.
-- Management believes that this solution is highly desirable to
Gelion's end market and will accelerate Gelion's ability to
scale-up into commercial production.
Lithium Sulfur
-- Management is encouraged by the progress being made toward
realising the potential of intellectual property packages acquired
from Johnson Matthey when combined with Gelion's existing
technologies.
-- Gelion therefore intends to increase the testing capacity of
its research and development facilities in this regard by 50%.
-- Based in Sydney, the site will have the capability to
increase Gelion's prototyping toward cell development and is due to
be operational in September 2023.
Commenting on the update, John Wood, CEO said: "Since joining
Gelion, a key priority has been to understand how we could best
adapt our Company's outstanding technology capabilities to meet
industry requirements. This work has progressed at pace and the
conclusions are exciting. We are confident that the migration of
our Zinc technology path takes us to where our solutions will be
safe and cost effective, with energy densities suitable for
applications in the ecosystem surrounding lead acid today as
intended. Satisfying all three requirements is extremely rare and
we are confident that this will make our solution highly
desirable.
"On the Lithium Sulfur side, the understanding of the enormous
potential for Lithium Sulfur continues to be elevated in the
industry and the marriage of the recently acquired Johnson Matthey
IP with our own activities strengthens Gelion's position in this
highly competitive field. This is why we have decided to expand our
testing facility resulting in increased capacity to ensure we
optimise development of this product for the rapidly growing
market."
Zinc Battery Solution
On 16 March 2023, the Company announced that the match to market
analysis had highlighted areas where further refinement was
required in Gelion's technology to meet the primary key
requirements of potential end customers - namely, safety, energy
density and cost. To date, paths are available to satisfy two of
these needs but satisfying all three together has been elusive for
market participants.
For Gelion, further research into the particular prismatic
format zinc bromide technology approach identified that the bromine
sequestered as part of the cathode composition could compromise its
safety under certain circumstances of duress e.g., external fire.
In addition, research indicated that the zinc plating in the anodes
was exhibiting dendritic growth which required the Company to
operate systems with periodic maintenance to strip the anodes (by
discharging the cell to zero) in turn compromising the performance
and cost efficiency of the battery system solutions.
Gelion is pleased to report that it has now resolved a path
toward resolving both issues thereby offering paths to enhanced
safety, improved cost and either matching or exceeding our current
energy density.
In relation to the bromine sequestration, Gelion has determined
that the Company's ability to improve the safety of the existing
battery will come at a cost of reduced energy density that will be
below an industry-tolerable standard and resolving these will
require a further lengthy research and capital expenditure plan.
Accordingly, Gelion is adapting its technological solution to
comprise a zinc cell with an alternate cathode technology (which
does not utilise bromine). Early testing indicates that this
solution has the potential to maintain the at least the same, if
not more, energy density level as the Company's existing zinc
bromide solution but with enhanced cost and safety aspects, making
this a more compelling product. Gelion expects to validate the
potential of this technology over the next six months and report
back to shareholders in early 2024, keeping in line with the
timelines communicated for the current R&D Programme.
In relation to the anode stripping, Gelion has formulated a
technology that has diminished the dendritic growth and resulted in
smoother zinc plating. This means that users are not required to
"strip" the battery after every few cycles to replace the plating
which in turn means that Gelion's batteries can run for increased
cycles. This has positive implications for both efficiency and
cost.
Lithium Sulfur
Further to the announcement of 25 May 2023, the Company has now
received sample electrodes corresponding to the technology package
acquired from Johnson Matthey earlier in the year. Gelion will now
test these electrodes in isolation before testing them in
combination with Gelion's pre-existing solutions.
The Company has continued to test its pre-existing technologies
and has defined a testing programme that will benchmark the
solutions to industry initiatives.
Given the strong progress in this area the Company intends to
expand its R&D facility in Sydney by 50%. This facility, due to
be operational in September 2023, will enable Gelion to accelerate
its ability to formulate and test the Group's Lithium Sulfur cell
technologies.
CONTACTS
Gelion plc via Alma PR
John Wood, CEO
Amit Gupta, CFO
Thomas Maschmeyer, Founder and Principal
Technology Advisor
finnCap Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Sole
Broker) +44 207 220 0500
Corporate Finance
Christopher Raggett
Seamus Fricker
Fergus Sullivan
ECM
Barney Hayward
Alma PR (Financial PR Adviser) +44 20 3405 0205
Justine James gelion@almapr.co.uk
Hannah Campbell
Will Ellis Hancock
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