ITM Power Plc (ITMPF)

[Gerry321]

Positive straws in the wind…

The ITM RNS released today coinciding with a demo of the HRU and Bi fuel car contained some very interesting straws in the wind
By that I mean……
1 What was said
2 What was not said that ought to be said
and
3 What was let slip because PR people don’t fully understand what a statement infers when they are crafting it…..( I would add "bless em"....... if it wasnt for Ben Won`ty )

My overview is that once again ITM and their hapless advisors Buchanan Communications have undersold some very significant achievements
I will cover this in 3 posts of which this is the first

Firstly

What WAS said today………….. that is undoubtedly good news
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1 ITM said today that the HRU is platinum free..
......Why is this good news ?
Well
In Jan 2008 ITM said the HRU had one platinum catalyst coated electrode (the oxygen side)
This was puzzling as ITM had already proof tested a platinum free 5Kw electrolyzer back in July 2008 However it transpired that their rationale for reverting back to one platinum electrode between July and Dec 2007 was perfectly sound
They did it because the use of platinum in one electrode was cost effective
Why ?
because the platinum loading on the carbon paper catalyst they were able to use was the lowest weight in the market ……..so low that swopping it for a non platinum material didn’t save enough money to make it worth while slowing down development work while they haggled with a supplier unwilling to make and quality control test vast quantities of non platinum catalysts.......this has now been done

So good news No 1 …… that there is now no doubt that platinum is gone for good from electrolyzers
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And
Despite the coyness of JH at the NHA interview when he only admitted to one platinum electrode being removed from the ITM fuel cell

Its a no brainer that Prof Highgate will be running electrolyzer and fuel cell development work simultaneously
So
This statement today on electrolyzers inevitably means platinum will be eliminated from the fuel cell when it is finalised next year
Why ?
cos if it works on an electrolyser it works on a fuel cell
Its simply a question of doing it backwards with a little bit of extra tubing etc
So good news No 2 …… that there is now little doubt that platinum will be gone for good from fuel cells…….and costs in the market place are about to fall steeply,

this is earth shattering to the fc community around the globe and potentially fatal news to the big boys that are left
A statement saying platinum is gone from fuel cells must be strongly fancied to come later in the year
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Also
perhaps most importantly of all..
…….. what can be inferred from “platinum free” ?
Well
It is a known fact that the efficiency of electrolyzers is improved by the use of catalysts The more platinum that is used the greater the efficiency ( ie Kws needed per Kg of H2)
It is also a known fact that all other fuel cell cos in the world are striving to trade off the cost of platinum against the cell efficiency So most of the fuel cells and electrolyzers in the world have efficiencies of around 55% max because they need to keep down the cost of platinum If they didn’t they would have efficiencies of around 85% but the platinum cost would be astronomic
However
Most people don’t realise that platinum is needed only because the nafion membrane is acidic
……..If it can be made alkaline
…… the road to high efficiency never mind lower cost…. is wide open
Currently
the only high efficiency electrolyzers are the massive swimming pool size wet alkaline units made by Norsk Hydro etc.. .These don’t use platinum and can get efficiencies close to and above 90%
However
wet electrolysers don’t make pure H2 (ie 99.999%)and have other problems that prevent them EVER becoming low cost
So
When ITM first mentioned their hydrophilic membranes they hinted that they might be able to have an ALKALINE electrolyte or membrane instead of the nafion ACID membrane used by everyone else in the world……ITM emphasised the cost saving benefit versus platinum but said little about the fact that there was an extra hidden benefit ....
i.e. raising the efficiency way above the 55% cost equilibrium point
Marcus Newborough indicated an efficiency of up to 90% for ALKALINE electrolyzers of both the wet and pem acid type in his 2004 report on ITM which was done while he was a Consultant
See first para of executive summary and section 3.2 ( i )
http://www.h2fc.com/Newsletter/PDF/ElectrolyserTechnologyReportFINAL.doc

So by eliminating platinum
Not only have ITM wiped the floor with nafion on costs grounds…..
They have wiped the floor with nafion on efficiency grounds
since
By moving from acid to alkali they can use as much of the low cost alkaline catalyst as they want without adding any significant cost
i.e keep adding cheap catalysts until they get the overall efficiency up to and well over the 90% mark

So is there any reason to believe that this is what ITM have ACTUALLY achieved ?

There is a clue in todays RNS that ITM `s HRU can indeed operate at a very high efficiency rate
It was apparently stated in an interview that the HRU can make 3kg/day of H2 from offpeak electricity
Well ……..there are only 10 offpeak hrs in a day (I think)
……although I will stand corrected if any one tells me differently........in the UK I mean
And at 100% efficiency
It can be shown from basic chemistry that a 1 Kw Electrolyzer can make 30.6228 gms/hr of hydrogen
Meaning a 10 Kw Electrolyzer can make 3.06228 Kgs in 10hrs
Suggesting the HRU has a conversion efficiency of 3x 100/3.06228 or 98%
Even if I`m wrong and there are 11 off peak hrs in a day
this become 10x 98/11 = 89%
Or even if there was 12 hrs……which is most unlikely
This becomes 10x98/12 = 81%
i.e ……miles above the 55% of the best in class pem electrolyzer on the market today
This is a vital market edge when you consider that making and storing stranded green energy has to be done efficiently if it is to be re used in a fuel cell instead of road transport
either domestically or at power stations or wind farms
If the electrolyzer efficiency is say 90% and the fuel cell efficiency is say 90% the conversion/reconversion efficieny is
81%
This means storing H2 at power stations or wind farms for reconversion back to power at peak periods is a no brainer and
a very lucrative profit opportunity for the utility cos
Since
if you can use stranded energy green or nuclear……to make H2 and reconvert at the peak period
you increase the overall utilisation of plant which is measured in $millions per 1% improvement
on the UK grid this would be something like £160m pa for 1%
and
You save an absolute fortune in having to build back up power plant for use when the wind isnt blowing
zillions and zillions around the world

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Enough for now

lots more to come from this interesting statement