ACTA.L Regulatory News (ACTA)

21 Feb 2007 07:02

Acta S.p.A.21 February 2007 21 February 2007 Acta S.p.A. Acta demonstrates potential breakthrough for automotive fuel cells Acta, the AIM-listed catalyst developer, has demonstrated its new catalyst forhydrogen generation at the world's largest fuel cell exhibition in Tokyo. Thisis the first public demonstration of what is a new exciting breakthrough in thecritical area of supplying hydrogen to power fuel cells for the automotive andther industries. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars is one of the top long term goals ofthe global automotive industry. Billions of dollars have been spent indeveloping hydrogen powered fuel cell cars. However, these cars may never becommercialised because installing a hydrogen supply chain to keep them fuelledis impractical and prohibitively expensive. The issue of hydrogen transportationand storage is therefore the leading technical barrier to commercialisation. Acta has successfully developed a new catalyst that will produce hydrogen fromammonia. Ammonia is one of the most practical hydrogen carriers available and isalready one of the most widely used and transported chemicals in the world. Itis far easier and safer to handle than pure hydrogen and contains no carbonwhich produces greenhouse gases. Acta's breakthrough means that a fuel cell car could be able to store ammonia inits tank. Acta's onboard ammonia electrolyser catalyst will break the ammoniainto nitrogen and hydrogen. The hydrogen will feed the fuel cell that willgenerate the electricity to power both the car and the electrolyser. This ispossible because Acta's electrolyser uses less power than is generated by thefuel cell, unlike a water electrolyser that uses more power than is generated bythe fuel cell. Acta demonstrated its working ammonia electrolyser catalyst at the world'slargest fuel cell exhibition: Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo. The catalyst, which wasdeveloped at customer request, aroused significant interest from globalautomotive companies as well as from other hydrogen users. Prototype catalystshave already been despatched to interested parties and trials are underway. Acta's ammonia electrolyser catalyst was subject to a patent application inJanuary 2007. Paolo Bert, Acta Chief Executive, commented: "Hydrogen supply is the biggestbarrier to the introduction of viable automotive fuel cells. We are very excitedto offer a new and practical solution to this critical area and we have beendelighted by initial customer interest in our ground breaking technology,especially from the global automotive industry." For further information, please contact: Acta S.p.A:Toby Woolrych, Chief Operating Officer Tel: +44 (0) 20 7360 4900 Smithfield Consultants:George Hudson / Noemie de Andia Tel: +44 (0) 20 7360 4900 Notes to Editors: Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo Acta demonstrated the ammonia electrolyser at FC Expo in Tokyo, the largest fuelcell exhibition in the world with 26,000 visitors. The size of FC Expo, held on7-9 February, highlights the scale and sophistication of the Japanese fuel cellmarket. Acta was one of only two AIM listed companies exhibiting out of 462exhibitors and was supported by Sumitomo Corporation, Acta's Asian partner.Sumitomo took a large stand and ensured that Acta's products were well presentedin Japanese. Sumitomo not only supplies world class commercial support forActa's customers but also introduces Acta to other cutting edge technologies andleading Japanese academics. Acta also demonstrated how its HYPERMEC fuel cellcatalyst can uniquely operate with four different fuels: ethanol, methanol,ethylene glycol and (for the first time) sodium borohydride . Acta S.p.A. Acta, which was admitted to AIM in October 2005, is a manufacturer ofplatinum-free catalysts for the portable electronics and renewables markets.Acta uses a patented manufacturing process to make uniquely active catalysts,branded HYPERMEC, which are able to perform as effectively as expensive platinumcatalysts. Acta's catalysts offer customers technical usage benefits,significant cost savings and allow for the first time the use of ethanol, whichis a safe and environmentally friendly fuel. Products in the target portableelectronics market include laptop computers and mobile phones, and in therenewables market include electricity supply, automotive power and hydrogengeneration. Opinion leaders in the fuel cell industry have identified hydrogen generation,transport and storage as the key barriers to the widespread introduction of fuelcells to the market. On 14 February 2007, an article in Fuel Cell Todayhighlighted that General Motors aimed to have manufacturing capability for itsfuel cell cars by 2010 but it did not expect any hydrogen infrastructure to beavailable to fuel them. Acta's ammonia electrolyser may represent a breakthrough in the search for asolution to the problem of providing hydrogen fuel supply for fuel cells in apractical, safe and economical manner. It works by breaking ammonia (NH3) intonitrogen (which already makes up 79% of our air) and hydrogen with no harmfulby-products. This is done at room temperature using theoretically just 5% of theelectricity input required to remove the hydrogen from water by waterelectrolysis. This allows the use of an electrolyser "on board" a car to producethe hydrogen, something which is not possible with a water electrolyser becausethe latter uses more energy to generate hydrogen than the fuel cell can produce. Ammonia is one of the most widely used and transported chemicals on the planet:130m tons were produced in 2005, mainly for use in fertilizers, and it is widelymanufactured, transported and stored without environmental harm. It is a moreefficient hydrogen storage material than hydrogen itself. Ammonia can bemanufactured from renewable sources such as biomass that results in no harmfulCO2 emissions. Acta is once again positioned at the forefront of the most important trends infuel cell development. In February 2006 the US Department of Energy (DOE)published an enquiry into the use of ammonia as a fuel for fuel cells, notingthat the chief barrier to this was the high temperature required to release thehydrogen. By responding quickly to the DOE enquiry last year, Acta is the firstcompany to demonstrate that ammonia electrolysis at room temperature ispossible. This builds on important work in this area that is being carried outby Professor Botte in Ohio, and a $1m grant has recently been awarded to theUniversity of Delaware for research into ammonia electrolysis. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange