The BCI Innovation Award

For almost a decade now Battery Council International, a trade organization representing the interests of major battery players in North America, has given a special award to those firms that have displayed the greatest innovation in developing lead battery energy storage.

This year, there were five applicants for the award: Water Gremlin, Daramic, ACE Green, STC and the eventual winner Gopher Resources.

Each had an unusual take on providing a further impetus to the competitiveness of the lead battery industry — these have ranged from better separators, more environmentally suitable manufacturing techniques to yet better ways to recycle lead.

The independent panel of judges this year decided that Gopher Resources’ approach to creating a better path to recycling lead batteries was the winner.

Interestingly lead batteries’ almost 99% ability to be recycled — and profitably so — stands in stark contrast to the difficulties the lithium battery industry has in doing this profitably, safely and to scale.

Water Gremlin has pioneered a unique process to reduce the environmental impact of organic solvents as a coating material by using UV light.