PolyFuel awarded US$2m funding from US National Institute of Standards and Technology

PolyFuel Inc., manufacturer of engineered membranes for portable electronic applications, has announced that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded the company $2 million over 2 years in support of the Company’s work to develop a new, ultra-low crossover membrane for portable fuel cells. 

The project, which will commence in November 2007, is part of NIST’s Advanced Technology Program, which seeks to advance key technologies that are expected to deliver significant potential benefits to US industry and the economy.  The objective of the project is to dramatically advance the state of portable fuel cell technology by developing a fuel cell membrane that exhibits ultra-low levels of fuel crossover, with a target reduction of 75% relative to the already low levels achieved by PolyFuel to date. 
Many of the world’s leading consumer electronics manufacturers are either testing or have already adopted PolyFuel's current generation of low crossover membrane materials.  Provided the NIST ATP project is successful, it will allow portable fuel cell system developers to design systems that are even smaller, lighter, cheaper and longer running than those currently possible with PolyFuel's existing state-of-the-art materials.

This award follows the announcement in May 2007 that the US Department of Energy had restored approximately $2 million in programme funding to PolyFuel to develop a prototype "reference design" for an all day runtime power supply for a laptop PC.

PolyFuel President and CEO Jim Balcom said, “I am delighted with the backing that NIST is providing PolyFuel in support of our work to develop a new ultra-low crossover membrane. We believe that we are on the cusp of seeing portable fuel cells surpass Lithium-ion batteries in terms of size and weight for all day runtime laptop PC applications, but there are plenty of opportunities to advance the technology even further.  The NIST ATP award provides just such an opportunity.  If successful, the rate of adoption of this technology can be expected to increase, and the types of potential applications for portable fuel cells expanded.”

Source: Fuel Cell Today