An enzyme-catalysed battery has been created that could one day run cell phones and laptop computers on shots of vodka.

The key to the device is a new polymer that protects the fragile enzymes used to break down the ethanol fuel, scientists told the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in New Orleans on Monday.

Korean company Samsung Electronics has initiated cooperation on fuel cells with China's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP). 

DICP were visited by a Mr Lim Chang Bin, a Director of Samsung's Technology Institute at the beginning of March 2003. During his visit, it was agreed that Samsung and DICP should set up a joint laboratory for fuel cell research. 

Because methanol, as a liquid, would be easier to dispense using current infrastructure, it will likely be one of the first fuels for fuel cells.

Speaking at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society March 23-27 in New Orleans, Yu Seung Kim, a former research scientist at Virginia Tech, will report the results of studies at Virginia Tech to determine the optimum materials for use as a proton exchange membrane in a methanol-based fuel cell. 

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering has received $3 million from two federal agencies to study the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source and to set up a consortium in the Southeast that will help create an infrastructure that will one day make hydrogen as easy to deliver as gasoline. 

The UAB Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has received a $2 million grant from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) to study fuel cell technology for mass-transit buses. A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be used to study the use of hydrogen in automobiles and in hydrogen fuel cells for power generation and portable equipment, such as home appliances. 

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The U.S. Fuel Cell Council (USFCC) will distribute special Fuel Cell Info CD-ROMs to attendees of the 2003 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Convention, March 27-30, in Philadelphia.

The USFCC exhibit will feature a slide show of fuel cell products, as well as a small demonstration fuel cell (Booth #2407).

The Fuel Cell Info CD-ROMs feature a database of fuel cell and hydrogen educational resources for teachers, as well as PDF versions of fuel cell fact sheets and product charts. A PDF version of the USFCC's new Fuel Cell Power for Mobility brochure is also included. The Council will also hold a drawing to give away a free small demo fuel cell kit.

Anuvu Fuel Cell Products, Inc. of Sacramento, CA announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Kettering University of Flint, MI to jointly develop and promote fuel cell technologies for the transportation industry. 

Under the 4-phase agreement, Anuvu Fuel Cell Products will first provide fuel cells to Kettering for their in-house research and teaching needs. 

In the current climate of research into new energy sources, AXANE, a wholly owned AIR LIQUIDE subsidiary, backed up by its success during the Polar Ice Cap Mission led in 2002 by Doctor Jean-Louis Etienne with the POLAR PACTM prototype, has chosen to step up its investment and, beginning in 2003, present an initial offer of fuel cell systems derived from the EVOPACTM concept. 

AXANE is thus entering the fuel cell market, with a broad offer, intended initially to meet the needs of various markets such as isolated sites, emergency systems, domestic applications, and small hybrid vehicles. 

On 28-29 March, Reykjavik in Iceland will see the start of a large joint Nordic project: Nordic H₂ Energy Foresight, which is being led by Risø National Laboratory. The project involves sixteen companies and institutions, both large and small, from all five Nordic countries. Using so-called technology foresight, and working across national boundaries and different fields of professional expertise, the project will clarify the resources and competencies available to the Nordic region within the field of hydrogen energy technologies. The meeting in Iceland will be used to develop plausible scenarios of how tomorrow's hydrogen society will look, thereby forming an idea about the context in which the hydrogen technologies will possibly come to play a role.

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) together with Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) of Kiel are to equip three Greek class 209 submarines with a propulsion system that is independent of an outside air supply. The project covers the supply of the PEM fuel-cell modules and the electrical equipment for integration into their existing propulsion system. In addition, an option has been agreed upon for a fourth installation. Delivery is scheduled to be between mid-2004 and 2010. Modernization of the roughly 25 years old class 209 submarines is intended to increase their submersed range to that of new ships. Earlier orders placed with Siemens both from Greece and also South Korea included the equipment for modern class 214 submarines. 

RV appliances soon may be powered by a fuel-cell electric generator. Clean Fuel Generation LLC, of Los Angeles, California, has developed the first RV system using readily available propane as fuel to produce electricity. Co-founder Nick Ballinger says the innovative design makes an all-electric coach possible. 

Mar. 25--DANBURY, Conn.--FuelCell Energy Inc. doesn't have to wait for experts to figure out how to make hydrogen available to the average business in order to run its fuel cells. Its products are ready right now to bring users efficient, reliable and on-site electric generation, the company's investors were told Tuesday.

The Danbury-based company, which employs about 250 people in Torrington, also has enough cash to see it through to profitability, said Jerry D. Leitman, FuelCell's chairman and chief executive officer. That could be up to three years away, however, depending on market conditions and how things like the war in Iraq, the ongoing recession and the slumping power industry unfold.

"All those are kind of headwinds in our face," Leitman said. "What we have is the right product. There's no one close to us. The good news is we have the cash to manage our business. We've got the cash to last us through this period until we get to profitability."

Caterpillar and FuelCell Energy may win contract in Ohio FuelCell Energy Inc. of Danbury and Caterpillar Inc. are expected to win a contract to install one of the nation's first advanced utility-scale fuel cell power plants designed to feed power from a substation into a local electric distribution system, FuelCell announced.

Two new microfluidic fuel cells developed at Brown University may help make long-running medical implants a reality. 

The new fuel cells offer features sought after by manufacturers to provide long-term power for medical devices such as implants that monitor glucose levels in diabetics. 

"They present a new paradigm toward the development and manufacture of small fuel cells for medical implants," said lead scientist Tayhas Palmore, associate professor of engineering, biology and medicine. "There is a lot of basic science yet to be worked out. But if successful, this design could help rid a diabetic of the need to monitor blood glucose after each meal, and that would make for a significant advance in the  treatment of diabetes." 

At the annual HANNOVER FAIR’03, April 7-12, Hanover, Germany, the Group Exhibit - Hydrogen + Fuel Cells (H2/FC) initiated and organised by Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR, Starnberg, Germany brings together numerous representatives of this emerging industry. 

International H2/FC hub
The Group Exhibit Hydrogen + Fuel Cells with 90 exhibitors and 9 Forum participants out of 19 countries is an established part of the “Energy” trade show during the HANNOVER FAIR. It teams up an international mixture of organisations including global players, as well as, SME’s and research institutions. The entire H2/FC production cycle is visually displayed, from R&D and manufacturing to customer satisfaction. All exhibitors will showcase their most recent developments in H2/FC applications, components, materials & peripherals.
 

According to the Nikkon Kogyo Shimbun, the Iwantani International Corporation started a project which will lead towards cost optimisation in building hydrogen fuelling stations and could therefore be the first step towards a commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles (FCV)

Hydrogen a Trojan horse?

A US$32 million project was launched Thursday in Beijing and Shanghai to help reduce the cost of fuel-cell bus (FCB) technology, one of the most promising methods for developing emission-free public transport. 

Jointly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme, the project will lead to trials of FCBs - along with their hydrogen refuelling statiions - in Beijing and Shanghai. 

Over the next five years, the project will help public transit companies in each municipality obtain six FCBs and use them for a total of 1.6 million kilometres.