Fuel Cell Component Plant Opened In Texas

Autoparts Report, Oct 18, 2002

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) of San Antonio, Texas said it has opened a unique pilot plant for the high-volume production of fuel cell electrodes, key components of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) and fuel cell systems. The plant was built as part of a $12 million contract, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, with cost share provided by SwRI, W.L. Gore and Associates, Elkton, Md., and General Motors Corp.

Commercial acceptance of fuel cell technology for automotive applications requires a fuel cell system that meets the Freedom CAR cost target of $50 per kilowatt, SwRI said. Low-cost production of MEAs is critical to the success of fuel cell technology, it added. It is anticipated that an MEA must be available for $10/kW or less to meet these cost targets, it added.

"Producing low-cost MEAs is a challenge because the catalyst on the electrode is platinum, which typically costs $600 an ounce," says Dr. James Arps, manager of SwRI's Surface Engineering Section and project manager of the DOE effort. "We've designed a facility that allows us to deposit a very thin layer of platinum on the electrode, which should meet or exceed the DOE cost target."

Experiments are under way at the plant to assess uniformity of the deposition process and scrap rate, the company said. "Our goal is to make enough MEAs to make one or two fuel cell stacks for GM," says Arps, adding that a fuel stack for an engine can contain 100 to 200 cells depending on kilowatt requirements.

The fuel stacks will be constructed by General Motors and provided to DOE's Argonne National Laboratory for evaluation upon completion of the project, SwRI said.