Itm Power Regulatory News (ITM)

30 Aug 2005 06:00

30 August 2005 ITM POWER PLC ("ITM" or "the Company") Technical Update - ITM - DTI Alcohol Fuel Cell Programme ITM, which aims to provide enabling technology for the hydrogen economy, ispleased to announce today the results of the ITM-DTI Alcohol Fuel Cellprogramme, which potentially significantly broadens ITM's intellectual propertyportfolio. The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) has provided funding toenable the Company to develop its materials and processes for use in improvedlow cost Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells (DMFC) using methanol as the fuel.Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells offer the prospect of easily transportable andrefuelable power for use in (for example) laptop computers and mobilecommunication systems where batteries now are becoming a limitation factor inperformance. This market is projected to grow very rapidly when methanol fuelcells of acceptable cost can be made available, but the industry standardmaterial for such cells remains Nafion‚®, a material that is costly and allowssignificant amounts of methanol to crossover the membrane reducing theefficiency and performance of the resulting fuel cell.The DTI funding has allowed the Company to research, develop and patentadditional materials specifically designed to operate with methanol as thefuel.ITM Power has produced new low cost materials, which have been tested as directmethanol fuel cells in both acid and alkaline forms. This is important becausealkaline conditions allow for the use of lower cost, non-platinum catalysts,and ITM have successfully operated a laboratory scale DMFC using palladium inplace of platinum on the fuel side as the catalyst.ITM normally prefers ionic conductivity as the most important measure ofperformance for its materials and, as a result of this programme, the Companyhas made low cost alkaline materials having conductivity values up to 40%greater than Nafion‚®. However, an alternative criteria commonly used forcomparing materials for use in DMFC fuel cells is: the ratio of ionicconductivity/methanol cross-over (c/Dk); and alkaline materials developedduring this programme and now subject to patent protection by ITM have beenmeasured and found to have values of c/Dk 10 times that of Nafion‚® undersimilar conditions.Jim Heathcote ITM's CEO said: "ITM Power is most grateful for the support ofthe DTI in this successful project, which compliments the Company's work onhydrogen based fuel cells and electrolysers. The project has produced excitingtechnical results, which offer ITM access to a new, additional and potentiallyvery valuable commercial area. In addition, it has allowed the Company toincrease significantly its Intellectual Property portfolio and has illustratedthe value of collaboration between industry and Government." -Ends- For further information please contact:Jim Heathcote Gemma Chandler / Simon Richard Swindells Hudson ITM Power Plc Tavistock Communications Panmure Gordon & CO Tel: 01780 740 574 Tel: 020 7920 3150 Tel: 020 7459 3600 Notes to EditorsAbout the hydrogen economy and ITM Power:ITM is a leading technical innovator of fuel cell and electrolyser technologiesfor the hydrogen economy.The future shape of the energy industry is being driven predominantly by thegrowth in the global demand for energy, the diminishing reserves of oil and bythe environmental impact of burning fossil fuels.Hydrogen Economy: * Term used to describe the use of hydrogen as a critical element in the energy economy- of the future. * Benefit of hydrogen is that it has the potential to a be a totally "clean" source of fuel * The vision is that low cost electrolysers produce hydrogen from "clean" energy sources such as solar, wind and wave and fuel cells use this hydrogen to produce the electricity when its required "If all the sunlight hitting the earth's surface in one hour was harnessed andconverted into electrical power, it would be enough to fulfill mankind's energyneeds for a complete year" - BP SolarElectrolysers, via an electrochemical process, convert electricity (fromrenewable energy inputs) and water into hydrogen (which can be stored) andoxygen and in turn fuel cells, via a similar process convert hydrogen andoxygen into electricity and water.ITM announced in November 2004 that it had successfully produced and tested aMark III electrolyser stack, which has been operated at a power rating inexcess of 200 Watts and are confident that the Company is well on track toachieve their milestone of 500 Watts by June 2006. On the basis of theseresults, The Generics Group, an independent scientific consultancy, haveestimated that in mass production it is possible to achieve $283 per kW. Thisclosely approaches the 2010 US Department of Energy target of $300 for anelectrolyser stack.PEM fuel cells developed so far are currently estimated to cost severalthousand dollars per output kW (for example, in February 2004, the USDepartment of Energy estimated the current cost of a fuel cell to beapproximately $3,000 per output kW) whereas petrol engines are currentlyestimated at $50 per output kW.ITM's TechnologyITM Power plc believes it has developed and patented the keys to revolutionisethe hydrogen economy and is set to become one of the UK's leading innovatorswithin the alternative energy sources industry.ITM's ionically conductive polymer materials and manufacturing processes areused in the production of fuel cells and electrolysers, which are significantlycheaper than those presently used in production. The technology offers highconductivity, hydration control and has the benefit of catalyst recycling. TheCompany has the ability to produce low cost fuel cells that meet the energydemands of a wide range of industries and specialist technologies includingmilitary, automotive and stationary fuel cell markets as well as the capacityto produce household items such as laptops, mobile phones and domesticappliances.ITM's has patented a new manufacturing process that allows a fuel cell/electrolyser stack of cells to be made in a single process similar to a massproduction casting process. The process is capable of producing cells or stacksof any shape that may also be flexible so that they can be moulded into smallerproducts, such as mobile phones. The Company has applied this technology to alow cost electrolyser that can convert carbon free energy into clean hydrogenfuel on site and on demand, therefore completing the circle of themanufacturing process.ENDITM POWER PLC