Letter of intent fuels cell development
14 May 2001
Millennium Cell and Air Products and Chemicals are discussing the possibility of entering into a joint research agreement aimed at developing a process for converting sodium borates to sodium borohydride. The result could propel the use of fuel cells in cars.
'We are interested in Millennium Cell's innovative technology and the acceleration of the commercial use of hydrogen as a major energy source,' said Chris Sutton, Air Products' vice president for Growth Initiatives.
For years, scientists have known that boron hydrides store more energy than similar hydrocarbons, but combustion of boron hydrides presented a difficult engineering problem, so work on these compounds as a fuel source was largely abandoned in the 1960's.
The Millennium Cell approach recognises the problems with combustion, but also recognises other means of extracting energy from boron hydride compounds. Hydrolysis of sodium borohydride yields large volumes of hydrogen gas, enough that storing hydrogen gas in sodium borohydride is superior on a volume and weight basis compared to compression, metal hydride, hydrocarbon reforming, and cryogenic storage techniques.
Hence the company has developed a proprietary system called 'Hydrogen on Demand' that releases hydrogen in high yield from sodium borohydride.
The pure hydrogen generated from the Hydrogen on Demand system is ideal for use by a fuel cell, as it is produced at 100% humidity and is completely free of carbon monoxide, which poisons fuel cells. The hydrogen can also be fed directly to an internal combustion engine that has been modified to run on a gaseous fuel.
Millennium Cell is also developing a sodium borohydride battery, and a battery technology based on a family of boron containing compounds, called borides. Both the borohydride and boride batteries are expected to be long lasting, providing power much longer than currently available commercial batteries.
Millennium Cell's technology can store approximately 7% hydrogen by weight in a safe, non-flammable liquid form.
