IVYLAND, Pa.-- Power and Energy, Inc. (P+E) has recently established a branch office in Yokohama City, Japan. This office will provide sales and customer support to new and existing customers of P+E's hydrogen purifier and separator product lines. According to P+E's founder and CEO, Dr. Peter Bossard, "The establishment of a branch office is a direct reflection of Power and Energy's commitment to Japan's semiconductor and fuel cell industries. Japan has consistently represented a large portion of our hydrogen purifier business. With the establishment of our new line of hydrogen membrane products designed to specifically to extract hydrogen from reformed fuels, we believe that Japan will also represent a major market for fuel cell and related hydrogen energy applications."

In a related move, P+E has appointed Toshio Wakui as General Manager of the Japan Branch and Shinya Kamei has been named Manager of Sales and Customer Support. "Mr. Wakui and Mr. Kamei have extensive knowledge of P+E's product line allowing them to provide excellent support to customers in Japan," said Al Stubbmann, P+E Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

P+E supplies hydrogen purifiers with capacities ranging from small bench-top laboratory needs to large bulk purifier systems that provide ultra-pure hydrogen for entire fabs (semiconductor fabrication factories). These customers require high reliability supply and consistently high quality to support their critical semiconductor process applications. Two of these bulk hydrogen purifier systems have been installed at key fabs in Japan in the past year.

The company now offers membrane-based hydrogen separators and reactors for a variety of applications including the generation of hydrogen from alternative (non-petroleum derived) fuels. The company has several contracts with the U.S. Navy and Army to deliver hydrogen separators for use with methanol and diesel fuels. P+E is now accepting orders for hydrogen separators and is seeking collaborative partnerships with firms developing reformers, hydrogen generators, fuel cells and integrated power generation systems. Given the strong leadership position of Japanese companies in hydrogen and fuel cells, P+E believes that many opportunities exist for cooperation in this region.

Power+Energy, Inc., established in 1993, is a privately held firm based near Philadelphia, United States. P+E develops and manufactures hydrogen purifiers and separators for a number of applications including semiconductor fabrication, laboratory applications and for fuel cell development. P+E has a worldwide customer base and supplies hydrogen purifiers to many leading producers of advanced semiconductors including most major suppliers of high brightness light emitting diodes (LEDs).

For more information, visit www.powerandenergy.com or www.powerandenergy.jp.