FuelCellsWorks

Today the new hydrogen kart of Greenchoice Forze, the Formula Zero team Delft, has been
unveiled. Ivo Opstelten, former mayor of Rotterdam, together with Dutch racing driver and
former Le Mans winner, Jan Lammers officially unveiled the students’ hydrogen kart at the
sports centre of the Delft University of Technology. Ivo Opstelten praised the students’
initiative and said he was honored to give the starting signal together with Jan Lammers.
“In this project I see the future of motorsport” said Jan Lammers.

Following the starting signal a spectacular racing demonstration was given. The only
sound came from the squeaking tires and buzzing electric motors. The only waste product
was pure water from the exhaust.

The racing team aims to win the upcoming races in an environmentally friendly manner.
Besides the power source, which is a hydrogen fuel cell, the bodywork is another
interesting feature. It consists of more than 70% renewable materials, like natural fibers
and a specially developed bio-based resin from DSM. More over, the teams’ CO2 emission,
resulting from transportation, is compensated by 100% green energy supplier
Greenchoice.

Het Formula Zero Championship
The Formula Zero Championship is the first racing competition fuelled by hydrogen, and thus
producing no harmful emission. The hydrogen that the fuel cell uses, is generated in a
sustainable manner end has no negative effect on the environment. With the hydrogen kart the
team from Delft, the Netherlands, will try to extend their title as reigning world champion in the
Formula Zero Championship.

The Greenchoice Forze kart has a top speed of 120 km/h and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 5
seconds. The continuous power of 8 kW (11 BHP), to drive two electric motors, is provided by a
hydrogen fuel cell. Water is the only exhaust product. This water is more pure than tap water.
Another innovation is the possibility to regenerate and store braking energy. This provides the
kart with a temporary boost power of 45 BHP. The possibility to separately drive the left- and
right- rear wheel is another distinctive feature. By varying the power of both wheels, the kart is
able to make faster, sharper turns than ordinary karts.

The vehicle has advanced electronic systems to control all features and to guarantee safety.
Advanced, sustainable materials have been used such natural fibers, e.g. flax, in combination
with a specially developed bio-based resin from DSM. Due to this innovative usage of materials,
the bodywork is made of 70% renewable materials.

Formula Zero team Delft
The Formula Zero team Delft consists of more than 40 students from various faculties of Delft
University of Technology. The student team has developed a kart that is powered by hydrogen
using fuel cell technology. By racing sustainably the team wants to promote and develop
sustainable technology in an attractive way.

The team is officially the world’s first hydrogen racing team and has already won the world’s first
hydrogen race in the centre of Rotterdam last year. Currently the team leads the Formula Zero
competition. In August 2009 the team will compete in races in England, the Netherlands, Belgium
and Spain. All of these races are part of the Formula Zero championship.

Besides racing, the team is also active with giving presentations and demonstrations on many
events, such as the AutoRai 2009 and the SASBE2009. During this last event HRH Willem
Alexander of Orange, Crown Prince of Holland, has met the team and its vehicle.

Greenchoice, the only supplier of 100% sustainable energy in the Netherlands, says the project
contains the two necessary steps towards a sustainable world. “The willingness of people to
change without sacrificing comfort, and the technologies that enable a sustainable world. Both
aspects can be found in this project and we aim to showcase the possibilities of driving on
hydrogen” says Rob van Rees, executive director of Greenchoice. www.greenchoice.nl
Delft University of Technology. A fascination for science, design and engineering is the
common denominator driving the 13,000 bachelor and master students and the 5000 employees
of TU Delft. Delft University of Technology is not only the oldest, but also the largest university of

technology of the Netherlands. www.tudelft.nl
Royal DSM N.V. creates innovative products and services in the field of Life Sciences and
Material Sciences that contribute to the quality of life. DSM’s products and services are used
worldwide in a wide variety of markets and applications that make life healthier, more sustainable
and pleasant. A key element is DSM’s corporate strategy is the development of innovative
products that contribute to the theme of climate change. The combination of this social theme and
the use of high-end materials makes for the Greenchoice Forze project of the TU Delft to fit
perfectly with DSM’s strategy of innovation and corporate social responsibility.
www.dsm.com, www.dyneema.com

DEVENS, Mass. — German engineered SFC EFOY Pro Series Fuel Cells have come to the East Coast of the United States. Sirius Integrator Inc., out of Devens, Massachusetts is now providing green energy security solutions as a distributor and integrator of SFC products.

President of Sirius Integrator, John Merlino, formerly in product management at Tyco Fire & Security and Sun Microsystems, strives to reduce ‘Lead Acid Battery’ pollution and to remove the frequent labor involved with recharging 12v & 24v batteries for remote devices. These portable fuel cells are quiet, light weight, and perfectly suited for many remote, stationary, and mobile, mission-critical physical security configurations. SFC EFOY fuel cells are virtually maintenance-free and provide long autonomy (days to months) for police surveillance, physical & homeland security, traffic management, event security, observation (manned or unmanned), mobile offices, sensors, GPS tracking & industrial communications, and many other remote power applications.

The EFOY, fueled by high-density methanol, is environmentally safe and emits only water and a small amount of carbon dioxide, so they are used both indoors and out. In addition, power is accessible whenever and where ever it is needed, the cell automatically recharges the battery when necessary and switches into sleep mode when its job is done. EFOY Pro Series Fuel Cells can be used as primary or secondary remote power, standalone or in a solar hybrid configuration. If the EFOY is intended for outdoor use Sirius offers the EFOY ProCube to protect against harsh weather and vandalism, it is a ready to use, fully integrated power solution. The SFC EFOY Fuel Cell’s methanol cartridges, available in 5, 10, & 28 liter cartridges, are easily replaced when fuel runs low without interruption and can be remotely monitored with optional GPS tracking and Google Maps integration.

Sirius Integrator Inc. is proud to be uniquely focused on integrating these power solutions into physical and homeland security applications and to be the East Coast’s first methanol cartridge distributor in the region. Please visit our website at www.siriusintegrator.com for detailed information, pictures, video segments or to contact us to schedule a visit. We would welcome you to our Devens Lab, discuss your current use of lead acid batteries & associated operation, and review possible fuel cell solutions for applications needing up to 500 watts of continuous power.

Japanese researchers have created sub-nano scale platinum clusters with high catalytic activity for use in fuel cell applications.¹ The tiny catalyst particles – the smallest of which contain just 12 atoms in total – could help to conserve the planet’s limited supply of platinum.

The team found that as they decreased the size of the clusters, their catalytic activity for the reduction of oxygen increased. At 12 atoms, each and every atom was exposed at the surface and the catalytic current produced was 13 times that of commercial platinum nanoparticles, which by contrast contain hundreds or even thousands of atoms. According to the researchers, however, the improved performance is probably not due to a simple increase in surface area but to quantum size effects that are not yet fully understood.

Space-filling model of phenylazomethine dendrimer template for metal cluster assembly © Nature Chemistry

Lead researcher, Kimihisa Yamamoto of Keio University in Yokohama, says the fact that their sub-nano clusters perform so well goes against perceived wisdom within the field. ‘In the community of catalyst chemistry – especially fuel-cell catalysts – the fact that a platinum nanoparticle around 3 nanometres exhibits the best performance has become an established theory. However, our findings at least suggest that these sub-nano clusters made under specific conditions exhibit a high catalytic activity.’The team created their platinum clusters by adding platinum (IV) chloride to dendritic phenylazomethine (DPA) templates – branched molecules that function as rigid, cage-like structures in which the metal atoms became trapped. They were able to tightly control the number of metal coordination sites, and therefore platinum atoms, in each cage. Adding a reducing agent released the platinum clusters as  stable structures.

According to Yamamoto, their results will lead to drastic reductions in the amount of platinum needed in fuel cells, with further progress becoming possible through the incorporation of a second metal into the platinum-based clusters. Although decreasing the size of particles is generally thought to decrease the reduction potential, this does not seem to hold true when sub-nano particles are bimetallic, he notes.

Younan Xia at Washington University in St Louis recently created bimetallic (platinum and palladium) nanoparticles for fuel cell applications², but whereas Yamamoto’s current work focuses on controlling size, Xia’s focused on controlling shape.

‘Size and shape are the two most important parameters in determining the activity of a catalyst. Size control is what we would like to achieve too, but it has been difficult using our synthetic method. Interestingly, the method described in this paper cannot control the shape. So it is still a challenge to develop a method capable to controlling both size and shape,’ says Xia.

Hayley Birch

References

1. K Yamamoto et al, Nature Chemistry, 2009, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.288
2. B Lim et al, Science, 2009. DOI: 10.1126/science.1170377

General Motors has laid off eight salaried employees at its Honeoye Falls fuel cell research and development facility.

The job cuts, made on Monday, represent about 2 percent of the work force there. The site employs about 350 researchers working on developing fuel cell-powered drive train technology.

GM said the cuts were part of an overall salaried work force reduction across the company.

Under GM severance policy, the eight will receive half of their monthly base salary for each year of service, up to a maximum of six months of benefits; company contributions toward health, dental, vision and life insurance for the severance period; and up to three months of outplacement services.

The 10-year-old Honeoye Falls site developed and built the fuel cell drive trains for the Chevy Equinox SUVs that are being test driven around the United States.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090721/BUSINESS/90721008/1001/GM+lays+off+8+workers+at+Honeoye+Falls+fuel+cell+facility

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.–Protonex Technology Corporation (LSE: AIM: PTX and PTXU), a leading provider of advanced fuel cell power systems for portable, remote and mobile applications, today announces that Dr. Caine Finnerty, a world expert in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), has joined Protonex as Director of SOFC Systems Development.

Dr. Finnerty, formerly the Chief Technology Officer at Nanodynamics, Inc., assumes a critical leadership role in the Protonex SOFC development group in Broomfield, CO, expanding the capabilities of the existing SOFC team. His role at Protonex will be multi-faceted and includes the management of teams focused on advanced technologies, product development, project management and SOFC tube and stack development and fabrication.

With over seventeen years of education and experience with analytical chemistry and SOFC development, Dr. Finnerty has played a key role in the development and implementation of micro tubular technology worldwide. After completing his post-graduate program in 1998 at Keele University (Staffordshire, UK), Dr. Finnerty, assisted in proving the viability of tubular SOFC technology in a Japanese NEDO program, then transferred early versions to Acumentrics in Boston, where he served as a senior fuel cell engineer. Most recently, Dr. Finnerty was a founding member of Nanodynamics Energy, Inc. and built a multinational team of engineers and scientists. Under his supervision and guidance this group developed an industry leading SOFC technology, and successfully integrated that technology into portable SOFC systems operating on various fuels that have been tested and operated globally.

Dr. Finnerty has completed postdoctoral, industrial development and commercialization programs on multiple SOFC applications, and has been involved in the design, development and production of systems up to 5,000 watts. He continues to contribute to the SOFC field via publication of a variety of papers in both journals and proceedings, and is named in several patents for a variety of companies in key areas of SOFC development, including materials, SOFC design and optimization, integrated stack design, electrochemical reforming and system operation.

“Protonex began its investment in creating a world-class SOFC team in 2007 with its acquisition of Mesoscopic Devices. Since that date, we have made continuing investments and have demonstrated compelling results,” stated Scott Pearson, Protonex President and CEO. “The addition of Dr. Caine Finnerty will further enhance the team’s capability, allowing us to accelerate market entry for our leading edge military and commercial SOFC products.

About Protonex Technology Corporation

www.protonex.com

Protonex Technology Corporation develops and manufactures compact, lightweight and high- performance fuel cell systems for portable power applications in the 100 to 1000-watt range. The Company’s fuel cell systems are designed to meet the needs of military, commercial and consumer customers for off-grid applications underserved by existing technologies by providing customizable, stand-alone portable power solutions and systems that may be hybridized with existing power technologies. The Company is headquartered in Southborough, Massachusetts.

LOUGHBOROUGH, England–Leading clean power systems company Intelligent Energy today announced that it has raised $30 million (USD) at a material uplift in price received per ordinary share compared to previous funding rounds. The money raised from both existing and new investors will be used to provide for the next stage of Intelligent Energy’s growth, as it accelerates the commercialisation of its fuel cell power systems into its targeted mass markets.

Intelligent Energy’s range of clean power system platforms based on its proprietary fuel cell technology has enabled it to target global mass markets through strong partnerships with blue chip customers that include Scottish & Southern Energy Plc and The Suzuki Motor Corporation.

“There now exists a stronger sense of realism within the clean energy sector, with major players now expected to produce tangible results,” explained Intelligent Energy’s Chief Executive, Henri Winand. “Only companies with solid execution and scalable businesses with clear pathways to commercialisation have been able to attract financing in such a challenging environment. The investment is a testament to the continued excellence in product development and very real commercial progress that Intelligent Energy has demonstrated with its partners.”

“All our target markets offer very significant growth opportunities on a global scale and with these funds we will continue to accelerate the commercialisation phase of our business plan by driving the delivery of our blue chip partners’ clean fuel and power products to their consumer markets,” continued Dr. Winand.

The recent round of fundraising will be followed by an open offer to all existing shareholders later in the year.

About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company, with a range of leading fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies. The company is focused on the provision of cleaner power and low carbon technologies. Intelligent Energy partners with leading companies globally, in the transportation, oil and gas, aerospace, defence, distributed generation and portable power markets. Current partners and customers include Scottish & Southern Energy plc with whom the company has formed a joint venture to commercialise fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) systems, and The Suzuki Motor Corporation. Intelligent Energy’s successes in recent years include the development of the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell motorbike and supplying the fuel cell system to Boeing which powered the world’s first manned fuel cell aircraft.

www.intelligent-energy.com