Green Tech

Powering a laptop with a portable liquid fuel is getting closer to reality. But don't expect to buy one for your next birthday.

PolyFuel, a company that develops fuel cell membranes, said Wednesday it has developed a prototype laptop--a Lenovo T40 ThinkPad--that uses methanol cartridges and a fuel cell as a power source.

The company intends to show it off to consumer electronics and PC manufacturers in the coming weeks. PolyFuel, which was spun out of what is now called SRI International, has about 19 customers, including NEC and Sanyo.

The functioning prototype is a proof of concept, rather than a finished product. The methanol cartridges, which are about the size of a deck of cards, can be replaced without having to power down the machine.

The prototype uses a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that converts methanol, also known as wood or methyl alcohol, to electricity to run the laptop. A single cartridge can provide 10 hours of battery life.

PolyFuel declined to provide an image of the prototype, but company President and CEO Jim Balcom described it to me.

He said the fuel cell power supply bulges out slightly more than the larger nine-cell battery on a Lenovo T40. It also raises the laptop a bit.

Despite the slightly larger size, Balcom said laptop manufacturers were keenly interested in the last prototype, because one power supply would provide as much run-time as about three lithium-ion batteries and would be substantially lighter.

Timing?
PolyFuel's strategy is to license its system design and to sell its membrane technology to manufacturers.

A number of consumer electronics makers have announced product development efforts on direct methanol fuel cells.

The advantage of direct methanol fuel cells is that the cartridges are portable and can provide longer running time, say backers.

MTI MicroFuel Cells, another direct methanol fuel cell company, said last week that its Mobion fuel cell lasted 2,700 continuous hours, hitting a Department of Energy target set for fuel-cell funding.

Manufacturers are keen to find ways to extend battery life so they can add more features to portable devices. Also, replaceable methanol cartridges would let people go all day without lugging around an AC adapter.

The U.S. Department of Transportation last year approved the transport of methanol fuel cells on airplanes, according to MTI and the Methanol Institute.

Then again, portable electronics powered by alternative fuels have been promised for years without any commercial products.

One of the main reasons is because the science for direct methanol fuel cells is quite difficult, particularly to make devices small enough, according to Balcom.

He said manufacturers estimate that these devices could fuel between 10 percent and 30 percent of laptops. Ten percent of laptops could be considered a niche market yet is still significant in size.

"We've never been on of the opinion that fuel cells are going to replace batteries wholesale. (Batteries) are great if you need a couple of hours," Balcom said.

He said that initial commercialization of fuel cell consumer electronics in two to three years is feasible.

"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when" fuel cells are used in devices, he said. "It's difficult to predict because the science is so challenging."

MTI Micro and Korean manufacturer NeoSolar said on Thursday they will build prototype ultra-mobile PCs powered by fuel cells.

The two companies said they will develop digital devices that use MTI Micro's Mobion fuel cells, which use liquid methanol cartridges as a fuel.

The development could lead to external chargers, snap-on attachments or devices with the Mobion fuel cell embedded in them, the companies said.

Fuel cells are being developed for a wide range of applications, from back-up electricity in buildings and data centers to transportation.

Rather drawing on tanks of hydrogen to make electricity in a fuel cell, MTI Micro's Mobion uses methanol. The advantage is that it's a liquid fuel that can be easily transported and store, say backers. The byproduct of using the fuel is water and carbon dioxide, in relatively small amounts.

MTI has signed on a partners to develop GPS devices and digital cameras that use its fuel cells.

Other consumer electronics manufacturers, including Sharp, are also developing direct methanol to fuel cell chargers.

Sharp and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week detailed technology advances in making liquid fuel methanol a source for fuel cells.

Sharp on Thursday claimed to have achieved the highest density ever with its prototype direct methanol to fuel cell (DMFC). The fuel cell has a longer continuous-use life span than a same-size lithium ion battery, Sharp said in a statement.

Sharp will continue to invest in DMFC research and development. It envisions using the technology in consumer electronics such as PDAs and notebook PCs.

Also on Thursday, MIT announced that researchers have managed to improve the power output of a methanol fuel cell by 50 percent. They developed a new technique for creating the membrane material that sits between the anode and cathode ends of a fuel cell.

The material is less expensive than Nafion, which is typically used, and will not absorb as much methanol, making it more efficient, MIT said in a release.

Direct methanol fuel cells are an alternative to using hydrogen as a fuel source for making electricity and have a number of advantages, backers say.

Methanol is "energy-dense," meaning that it holds a lot of energy and, as a liquid, it's easier to transport and store. It's also considered safer than hydrogen, which is combustible. When methanol is fed into a fuel cell, the byproducts are water and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is released in small amounts, according to MIT.

Fuel cell company MTI Micro has DMFCs designed for consumer electronics, including GPS devices and digital cameras. These devices will have replaceable cartridges filled with methanol.

Sharp's research focused on structuring a fuel cell to improve the power output, compared to existing DMFCs. From its statement:

Sharp has developed the three-dimensional highly integrated stack structure through the use of thin cells made by microfabrication. This structure can be created by the alternate lamination of reed-shaped thin cells arranged in parallel at fixed intervals and reed-shaped (porous) spacers, with the cells and spacers running perpendicular to each other like a grid.

With this structure, uniform and continuous spaces are secured, making it possible to increase the cell surface area per unit volume and smoothly circulate the air that is one of the sources for power generation.

The result is a power density of .3 watts per cc, which is about 7 times more than Sharp's previous technology. Sharp said the cell volume can be shrunk further, giving the fuel cells a longer lifetime.

I had a chat with Dr. Peter Podessor this week. He is the CEO of Smart Fuel Cells (XETRA: F3C.DE), the best fuel cell company that most Americans have never heard of. Cleantech Blog did an article on the problems with micro fuel cells last year, but we have never written much on the larger size methanol fuel cells that Smart Fuel Cell is developing. SFC is one of the longest running direct methanol fuel cell companies in Europe, but never has made much press in the US, despite the fact that the US is one of their largest markets.

It has been nearly five years since I last had the chance to speak with Smart Fuel Cell founder and then CEO Dr. Manfred Stefener, and a lot has changed. That is to say, unlike almost every other fuel cell company I know of, they have actually done what they said they would five years ago.

The technology is direct methanol, where methanol mixed with water is fed directly into the fuel cell. Their products are medium power range systems, mainly for APU type applications. An interesting tidbit on the technology, the classic problem in DMFC has always been the crossover problem, where methanol seeps through the membrane, reducing efficiency and performance, among other things. SFC uses a patented water management and active control system that has permitted them to deliver commercial products using membranes from a range of suppliers, including Johnson Matthey, DuPont and Cabot Industries, apparently relatively indiscriminant of the membrane itself.

These results (the combination of good performance, long life, and a range of membranes) are certainly interesting enough that I asked them after the interview to comment in more detail on what they mean by active crossover control, and share what they can about how it works:

"SFC has patented a method of converting energy using fuel cells that allows for miniaturization by focusing on simplified fuel intake, sealing and electrical configuration. We have also used low-cost materials and mass production techniques to lower the cost of manufacturing fuel cells. "Active Crossover Control" by SFC permits active monitoring and minimization of the negative methanol crossover effect, thus upping the fuel cell's performance. The result is an extremely short startup time and highly efficient fuel cells by SFC. A mixture of methanol and water is introduced to the anode side by a patented internal water-management system. This enables us to employ 100% pure methanol in our fuel cartridges."

Our technology is an "active" style DMFC with water and air management by pumps and crossover control permitting the use of various types of membranes. The fuel cell uses 100% methanol supplied in convenient, safety-tested and certified cartridges and dilutes it to the mix ratio required for power production.

Is there a simple summary on how the water management & active crossover control works? Active crossover control means advanced algorithms that manage fuel crossover and adapt it to the particular situation's needs. When fuel crossover is not desired, it is reduced to about 2 per cent. In situations when fuel crossover is beneficial to the product, it is deliberately increased. - SFC's water management submodule regulates the water balance of the product by matching water emissions and water recirculation. This process and the device performing the functions work reliably in a very wide window of operating conditions and are protected by several patents."

They have over 7,500 fuel cell units sold. The products range from 600 to 1,600 watt hours per day in size (25 to 65 watt nominal power), with prices ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 euros. The system efficiencies are rate at 30%. A bit over 40% of revenues are from the recreational market, predominantly including APUs for RVs, including major manufacturer names like Hymer and Concorde, and 40% of the total revenues are into the US and European military customers for remote power systems and mobile power packs. Among the other intriguing applications they have developed include solar / battery / fuel cell hybrid power systems for off grid power solutions. They have also begun making initial inroads into the EV and hybrid vehicle market for light vehicles as well. SFC warranties a 3,000 hour life of the system (they estimate roughly 6 year life expectancy in a typical recreational vehicle application), though they cautioned me that many of the systems see several times that in practice.

SFC's private equity backers included leading European private equity group 3i, strategic investor DuPont, and institutional backing from Deutsche Bank. SFC is publicly traded now, and after a fairly fast run up from 37 euros to north of 50 euros when it first went public in 2006, the stock has dipped back into the low to mid teens. That gives it a current market capitalization of around 100 mm euros, with around 50 mm euros of cash and 14 mm euros in revenues (including 70% from product sales) with a loss in 2007 of less than 5 mm euros. Possibly even more impressive, according to Dr. Podessor they have given guidance that they expect to break even in 2008. Aside from the technology, at an enterprise value to trailing revenues of 3.5x, plenty of cash, and projecting a near term breakeven, it is hard to see how SFC is not one of the cheapest fuel cell stocks out there, as well as with 7,500 units sold, one of the most mature. For someone who has been a long time skeptic of fuel cell companies, Smart Fuel Cell is a refreshing story.

Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is founding contributor of Cleantech Blog, a Contributing Editor to Alt Energy Stocks, Chairman of Cleantech.org, and a blogger for CNET's Greentech blog.

IdaTech, a fuel-cell manufacturer in Oregon, announced a smallish new fuel-cell power supply today, the 250-watt iGen. The announcement caught my eye because I've written here a few times about fuel cells and other alternative energy sources (including the nuclear reactor piece last week), and this time I was able to figure out the device's approximate cost of operation, something that usually isn't disclosed for fuel cells.

The iGen's 250-watt output rating doesn't sound like a lot, but it's over half an average person's home electricity consumption. A continuous supply of 250 watts adds up to about 180 kilowatt-hours (kWh) over the course of a month. According to 2001 data from the Department of Energy (PDF), per-capita household electricity use was about 316 KWH/month. (And that figure is declining as home builders use more insulation and appliances get more efficient.)

IdaTech makes other fuel-cell power supplies that can power your whole house, but most of us have access to reasonably reliable power from the local electric utility. So the iGen's more relevant applications are for standby power, field and military use, and other situations where utility power isn't available. In these situations, 250 watts is probably enough for most purposes, although you'd want to use batteries to provide a temporary supply of higher power.

So the iGen is at least in the right ballpark on output power, how is it on operating cost?

I've seen a lot of fuel cells that run on methanol, but the iGen data sheet (PDF) was the first time I've seen a company make specific promises about both power output and fuel consumption.

The numbers are pretty straightforward: 250 watts for one hour from 500 ml of fuel consisting of a 1.1:1 blend of water with methanol. This works out to just about one liter of methanol per kilowatt-hour.

I did some shopping around online and found that the basic price of 99.95 percent methanol is about a dollar per liter when purchased in 55-gallon drum quantities. Assuming this pricing applies to the quality of fuel required by the iGen, it puts a lower limit on the cost of electricity from the iGen at around a dollar per kilowatt-hour. It's possible the iGen can run on lower-purity methanol, just as it's possible it requires higher purity--I'm writing this on New Year's Eve, so I haven't tried to contact the company. (I also have no idea how much the iGen costs, so caveat lector.)

But while this figure is 10 times higher than the normal price of AC power from your wall socket, it's reasonable for standby and field use.

So if you're looking into standby power generators--especially DC-output models like the iGen--maybe it's time to consider fuel-cell generators.