FuelCellsWorks

Carbon Trust leads further funding round alongside Solvay

Cheshire based ACAL Energy Ltd (ACAL Energy), has completed a £3.5m investment round to boost the development of its innovative low cost fuel cell technology. Carbon Trust Investments led the funding round, along with Solvay SA, Porton Capital and a leading Japanese automotive corporation. Additional funds are expected in a second round of closing later this year.

Fuel cells are a highly efficient and clean electricity-generation technology which could be used to power cars, combined heat and power (CHP) units and are well suited to geographically remote and mobile power applications. ACAL Energy’s FlowCath® technology avoids the use of platinum which is commonly used in fuel cells but is an expensive precious metal. Having simplified the fuel cell system, ACAL’s technology promises improved durability and reliability. According to the Carbon Trust, mass market applications of fuel cells could save the UK up to 7 million tonnes of CO2 a year in 2050, equivalent to taking two million of today’s cars off the road.

Carbon Trust Investments recently appointed Dr. J. Byron McCormick as a non-executive director on the ACAL Board. Dr McCormick is well known in the automotive industry, bringing with him 35 years of basic research, product development, manufacturing and operations experience, the last 25 years of which have been in advanced automotive systems, electric vehicle propulsion systems, fuel cells and hydrogen. Most recently he was Executive Director of General Motors’ fuel cell car development team, which at one time comprised up to 1,500 engineers, technicians and support staff.

Jonathan Bryers, Partner at CT Investment Partners, which advises Carbon Trust Investments, said “ACAL’s breakthrough low-cost fuel cell technology is well placed to claim market share and is a great example of a UK clean energy technology company at the cutting edge. We are delighted to be leading a further investment round in ACAL Energy and welcome the continued support of Solvay and our other co-investors.”

Dr SB Cha, CEO of ACAL Energy, said: “This further investment by our institutional financial and strategic investors is a strong endorsement of our technology and our Company. It recognises our recent progress and the significant market potential we see for low cost, reliable fuel cell systems.”

ANN ARBOR, MICH. – Adaptive Materials, the leader in portable power through solid oxide fuel cells, was recently awarded a contract to provide highly integrated, high efficiency fuel cells to the U.S. Navy.  The contract will fund research aimed at developing fuel cells powered by the Navy’s on-board fuels.

Adaptive Materials will develop a validated technical approach and implementation plan for the Navy.  Specifically, Adaptive Materials will investigate a variety of potential fuel cell applications and power levels.  The research will focus on fuel cells powered by fuels that are readily available to the Navy.

“Adaptive Materials will validate that our fuel cells can be powered by alternative fuel types, including kerosene, diesel and the Navy’s JP-5,” said Michelle Crumm, Adaptive Materials chief business officer.  “Since Adaptive Materials’ fuel cells are powered by propane, it’s a small technical leap to deliver portable power from fuel that’s current on-board Navy ships.  Creating power from inexpensive, readily-available fuels is what makes Adaptive Materials unique from our competition in the fuel cell space.”

The Navy’s use of fuel cells for portable power is tied to unmanned aerial vehicles that are used by the Navy to support Marine land operations.

The contract is valued at $150,000 and includes two additional contract options.   The second contract option, valued at $750,000, would fund delivery of Adaptive Materials fuel cells to the Navy.  The third contract option would fund optimization of the JP-5 fuel cell for specific Navy applications such as auxiliary power unit, battery replacement and supplement, and small primary propulsion systems.

Hiroshima — Mazda Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that on May 18, 2010 it received the IAHE Sir William Grove Award from the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) at a presentation ceremony in Essen, Germany.

The IAHE is an international organization that promotes academic and technological advancements in the field of hydrogen energy. Every two years, the IAHE presents five awards to researchers or organizations that have made significant contributions in areas related to hydrogen energy. The awards are presented during the World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC), the world’s largest international conference on hydrogen energy, which the IAHE hosts.

The 2010 IAHE Sir William Grove Award recognizes Mazda’s initiatives to advance hydrogen energy, which include the commercialization of the world’s first hydrogen rotary engine vehicles, and participation in Norway’s national HyNor hydrogen project. This is the first time Mazda has won an IAHE award.

History of Mazda’s hydrogen vehicle development

- 1991: Developed first hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X

- 1992: Conducted test drive of golf cart equipped with fuel cell

- 1993: Developed second hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X2; Developed MX-5 test vehicle equipped with hydrogen rotary engine

- 1995: Conducted Japan’s first public road tests of a hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, Capella Cargo.

- 1997: Developed Demio FC-EV

- 2001: Developed Premacy FC-EV, conducted first public road test in Japan

- 2003: Announced RX-8 hydrogen rotary engine development

- 2004: Received MLIT approval for public road testing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE

- 2006: Started commercial leasing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE in Japan (eight models have been delivered to date)

- 2007: Signed agreement to provide RX-8 Hydrogen REs to HyNor, a Norwegian national transportation project

- 2008: Commenced public road tests in Norway with RX-8 Hydrogen RE validation vehicle

- 2009: Commenced commercial leasing of Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid

For more information on Mazda’s hydrogen rotary engine, please visit http://www.mazda.com/mazdaspirit/env/hybrid/hre.html

About Mazda

Mazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan’s leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.com.

A Reno startup is betting its future on a lawn mower engine that’s scheduled to be completed by mid-summer.

If the hydrogen-powered small engine works as they expect, representatives of H2 Technologies Group Inc. will be on the road quickly to gauge the interest of manufacturers worldwide.

The key technology, says founder Gary Lord, is a system developed by University of Nevada, Reno, researcher Ryan Hopkins that allows for inexpensive and safe compression and storage of hydrogen fuel.

H2 Technologies Group links that technology with a patented system developed to produce hydrogen from water. The company holds a worldwide exclusive license on that process developed by Hungarian researcher Jozsef Petro.

In combination, the two technologies would allow homeowners to produce hydrogen fuels in a unit about the size of a cracker box and store them in a container about the size of a 10-ounce water bottle.

Small engines powered by hydrogen would produce no emissions. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency says one gas-powered lawnmower produces as much pollution as 11 cars. If their technology works — and that’s where the lawnmower engine test comes in — H2 Technologies Group’s founders think they can make a compelling case to small engine manufacturers who face strict emissions standards. Over the next couple of years, emissions from lawn mowers and similar equipment will need to be cut by about 35 percent.

“Compliance is No. 1. All small engines are now out of compliance,” says Lord.

The company’s founders — Lord, researcher Hopkins and Reno entrepreneurs Randy and Sue Sidwell — are sufficiently confident in the technology that they’ve lined the politically well-connected Wade Consulting Group LLC to carry its message to lawmakers and potential investors.

The consulting firm looks to earn an equity stake in the company, says Patty Wade, one of its founders.

Founders of H2 Technologies Group boot-strapped its $100,000 in research in the past couple of years, and Lord says the company doesn’t expect to need big amounts of capital for factories or other facilities. Instead, it plans to license its technology to manufacturers.

But it needs capital to protect its intellectual property. It has filed 48 claims with the U.S. Patent Office and is preparing to file eight more.

Wade believes government grants that target green-energy companies also could be tapped by H2 Technologies Group.

“The EPA is going to be thrilled,” she says.

The company thinks manufacturers can build its hydrogen-powered engine for about the same cost as gas-powered models, and homeowners’ costs to create hydrogen fuel would be lower than the purchase of gasoline.

The H2 Technologies Group system would produce enough hydrogen in one storage tank to power a five-horsepower engine for about 90 minutes, Lord says.