November 2004

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - PolyFuel, the four-year-old startup fuel cell membrane developer here, has unveiled what it calls a breakthrough hydrocarbon-based membrane material early last month that the company says should go a long way toward significantly cutting the, so far, prohibitively high costs of fuel cell power plants.

Polyfuel president and CEO Jim Balcom told H&FCL that, while not yet ideal, the new material already achieves the minimum cost of $150/sq.m. of membrane material “required for limited introduction” of vehicle fuel cell engines.

At the same time, the new material produces 10-15% more power per units of surface area than currently available perfluorinated membranes, the company said in its announcement.

Balcom, who, along with a couple of other senior executives, is a Ballard Power Systems alumnus, explained that this cost number is based on what the U.S. Energy Department has been postulating, but today’s actual cost of the most widely used membrane materials - DuPont’s fluorinated Nafion material, for instance - is around $300/sq.m.. “For high-volume production, the cost needs to come down to about $35/sq.m.,” he added. “That’s a tough challenge for perfluorinated material, but we think we can achieve that in commercial high volume.”

One indication of the development’s potential significance is the fact that the “New York Times,” which evidently was given advance information, ran a lengthy story the day Polyfuel released the information publicly.

In a presentation made available to H&FCL, PolyFuel listed other advances claimed for the new material, including more power per membrane surface area:

• Maximum sustainable operating temperature (Deg. C.): 95 C, matching the minimum needed, again presumably for limited automotive introduction (Today: 80 C. Ideal: 100 C)
• Required relative humidity at 80C: 50%, also matching the minimum needed (Today: 80%. Ideal: 25%).
• High power: 7 kW/sq. m. at 0.65 V at 0.5mg/cm2 platinum catalyst loading (Today, as well as needed minimum, 6.5 kW/sq.m. Ideal: 10 kW/sq.m.).

One area where the new material doesn’t as yet reach minimum requirements is Long Lifetime: Polyfuel estimates the material now lasts 1,500 hours, better than today’s standard of about 1,000 hours, but not yet up to the 2,000 hour minimum requirement. Ideal lifetime would be 5,000 hours.

Uncertain so far is the material’s low temperature performance: the PolyFuel chart says that’s “to be determined.” Today’s requirement is zero deg. C. The minimum number is minus 30 deg. C, and minus 40 deg. C. is ideal.

Balcom refuses to identify specific carmakers that are testing the membrane in fuel cell engine applications. But he adds, “I can tell you that the level of interest in a better membrane, with all the characteristics that carmakers want, is very high.” He does say that the membrane is “on test with virtually all the leading carmakers.”

Earlier this year, the company announced new membrane materials specifically for compact, methanol-fueled portable applications such as notebook computers and cell phones (H&FCL Feb. 04). PolyFuel plans to display its direct methanol membrane in a side-by-side demonstration with Nafion at the 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar in San Antonio, TX this month.

PolyFuel is a spinoff from SRI International, founded in 2000. It has been funded by several venture capital groups, including Ventures West, Intel Capital, Chrysalix Energy, and others. Contact: Paul Michelson, Roeder-Johnson Communications, Belmont, CA, 323/874-4466; paul@roeder-johnston.com.