2026 — QuadriE and its NewBat consortium partners have initiated the construction of a bench scale aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) system — a key milestone in the project’s trajectory from laboratory proof of concept to validated technology.
The bench scale system is built around QuadriE’s proprietary tubular reactor cell design: a concentric architecture that is compact, modular, and specifically adapted to the mild aqueous chemistry of organic electrolytes. The system uses AQDS and ferrocyanide as benchmark active materials dissolved in an ammonium sulfate electrolyte — a non-toxic, non-corrosive combination with no critical raw materials.
From Lab Cell to Integrated System
Earlier phases of the NewBat project focused on validating the individual components: the tubular cell at lab scale, the size-exclusion membrane strategy, and the electrochemical simulation model. The bench scale system brings these together for the first time into an operational unit — including electrolyte tanks, pumps, galvanostat, and monitoring systems.
Once operational, the system will be tested against demand and supply profiles representative of the end-use applications identified by consortium partners housing corporation ‘thuis and energy cooperative Energie Samen Foodvalley. Long-duration charge and discharge cycling will be used to assess stability and performance over time.
Toward Demonstration Scale
Successful bench scale validation (TRL 5) is the prerequisite for the next phase: scale-up to demonstration scale (TRL 7), planned from approximately 2027 onwards in collaboration with engineering partner MTSA Technopower. The longer-term roadmap targets commercial deployment via a licensing model, in which QuadriE supplies the reactor cell technology and partners handle installation and system integration.
“Every step brings us closer to a flow battery that is genuinely ready for the built environment,” said Lex van Dijk, founder of QuadriE. “The bench scale system is where the technology becomes real.”