According to a study released by U.S. Borax, global borate reserves exceed 600 million metric tons in viable deposits worldwide. Approximately 50 million new cars are built and sold each year. If all 50 million were fuel cell vehicles able to use the Millennium Cells Hydrogen on Demand(TM) technology, about 20 million metric tons of borates (or about three percent of known reserves) would be required to fuel these vehicles. Because the fuel is designed to be recycled, very little additional borate supply would be required to keep those cars on the road.
"Our partnership with Millennium Cell is exciting. We believe our work will dramatically increase worldwide demand for borates, which is good for the industry; and dramatically decrease worldwide pollution, which is good for society," says Dr. Paul Zerella, U.S. Borax Chief Technology Officer. "We look forward to continuing to put our best borate scientists to this important task."
In July 2001, Millennium Cell, Inc. and U.S. Borax Inc today agreed to jointly accelerate the development of a synthesis process for converting sodium borates to sodium borohydride. Millennium Cell is a development-stage company that has created a proprietary technology to safely store, generate and deliver pure hydrogen. In Millennium Cell's Hydrogen on Demand process, hydrogen is generated from sodium borohydride. U.S. Borax is the world's leading supplier of borates, the key component of sodium borohydride.
A second study was an Arthur D. Little project commissioned by Millennium Cell to examine economic issues associated with sodium borohydride fuel production and regeneration. The study concluded that on a "wells-to-wheels" basis, delivered Hydrogen on Demand(TM) fuel costs could be competitive with other hydrogen storage technologies given successful development of an efficient recycling process.
Additionally, sensitivity analysis indicates that the cost of owning a vehicle powered by the Hydrogen on Demand(TM) system could be lower than that of other fuel cell vehicle systems analyzed. Costs of these vehicles are similar to vehicles relying on compressed and liquid hydrogen storage, and lower than other fuel cell vehicle technologies, such as fossil fuel reformers.
Finally, the study reports that vehicles powered by Hydrogen on Demand(TM) will have significant advantages over other fuel cell vehicle technologies in the areas of passenger and public safety, usable vehicle volumes and vehicle system integration.
"This study credibly makes the economic case for our fuel system," says Dr. Stephen Tang, Millennium Cell President and Chief Executive Officer. "Arthur D. Little's careful comparison of the costs projected for Hydrogen on Demand(TM) with those for other hydrogen technologies will inform our decision-making as we move forward with process efficiency improvement programs. We are encouraged by these early findings."
"We are very encouraged by the results of these studies, and feel they couldn't be more timely given the recent announcements by U.S. government leaders and automakers that hydrogen fuel cell technology is the most promising solution to reducing tailpipe emissions, and our dependence on foreign oil," says Curt Cornell, Millennium Cell Vice President, Supply Chain Business Development and Administration. "The most conservative estimates support the conclusion that there are adequate borate reserves to meet the projected demand our technology will create."
This report was written by Alton Parrish, Editor of Fuel Cell Technology News, the leading industry newsletter produced by Business Communications Inc. To find out more information about or subscribe to Fuel Cell Technology News, please visit www.buscom.com