EEMS |
9th October 2007
The British listed alternative energy development company ITM Power plc has developed a home hydrogen electrolysis device, planned for production in 2008, aimed at producing hydrogen from domestic windmill installations or off-peak electricity to substitute for gas in central heating systems and cookers. Alternatively, stored hydrogen from the system could be reconverted to electricity using domestic fuel cells or generators for emergency power or lighting, or used to supply the household's car.
Scientists at ITM Power’s Sheffield research centre made the hydrogen have developed and patented new low cost materials which ITM Power says significantly outperform and undercut those currently being used by competitors involved in the production of electrolysers.
Before the end of this year ITM Power plans to unveil a hydrogen home refuelling station for the automotive market, and a converted bi-fuel petrol/hydrogen Ford Focus, expecting its electrolyser to provide enough hydrogen for the car to complete an average daily commuting journey without using petrol.
- ITM Power plc has received a ‘notice of allowance’ for its fundamental patent application from the US Patent Office, and expects that the patent will be formally granted in the near future. The patent application covers both the unique crosslinked hydrophilic ionic materials which underpin the electrolyser and fuel cell developments made by the company in the past several years, together with a “novel” production process. In combination, these developments have allowed ITM to develop low cost platinum free electrolysers and high power density low cost fuel cells.
(www.itm-power.com)
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