Apr 19 2007
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited, a leading developer of solid oxide fuel cells for micro-combined heat and power units, has signed an agreement with Forschungszentrum Jülich to collaborate on researching and developing applications for solid oxide fuel cell systems.
Ceramic Fuel Cells will also award an annual student prize for special achievements in fuel cell development.
Established in 1956, and now with more than 4,000 staff, students and researchers and an annual budget of more than 360 million Euros, Forschungszentrum Jülich is one of the largest research institutions in Europe.
Forschungszentrum Jülich has been carrying out R&D in solid oxide fuel cell systems since the mid 1990s, including a strong focus on high-powered anode-supported cells. The Forschungszentrum Jülich has developed several stack designs and in 2004 constructed and tested a 10kW stack. Forschungszentrum Jülich has also developed significant expertise in complete systems and in developing novel materials, for example high-temperature, low cost ferritic steel used by a number of developers.
Under the framework agreement, the partners will conduct agreed research projects tailored to match the partners’ expertise and market needs. Areas of research are likely to include materials development, and accelerated lifetime testing and modelling.
The annual student prize will acknowledge and reward outstanding student work in a field relating to fuel cell development. The prize will be open to students at all German universities and will include a cash component and a work experience internship at Ceramic Fuel Cells in Melbourne, Australia.
Commenting on the collaboration, Dr Karl Föger, Chief Technology Officer of Ceramic Fuel Cells said:
“We are delighted that Forschungszentrum Jülich has chosen to partner with Ceramic Fuel Cells. Forschungszentrum Jülich is very well regarded as an international leader in fuel cell research. Both partners have been developing fuel cells for over 10 years, and we’ve gained a lot of expertise that we can share. We believe we can accelerate fuel cell commercialisation by experienced industry and academic researchers learning from each other.
“We are also happy to be sponsoring the fuel cell studies prize. It’s important to reward excellence and encourage students to get involved in really exciting clean technologies. Our involvement will also build our profile in Europe with leading researchers, of today and tomorrow. This will become more important in the next few years as we increase our operations at our site at Heinsberg, which is less than an hour’s drive from the Julich research centre.”
Prof. Dr. Detlev Stöver, Research Director Energy at Forschungszentrum Jülich added:
“Researchers of Forschungszentrum Jülich and Ceramic Fuel Cells have known each other for many years, and we are looking forward to entering into a closer cooperation by establishing this Framework Agreement. Forschungszentrum Jülich is pleased that CFCL has chosen to locate the fabrication facility in Heinsberg close to Jülich which will further strengthen the Northrhein Westfalia fuel cell network. We value the work CFCL has carried out in the field and we are confident that any future collaboration will be beneficial to both Ceramic Fuel Cells and Forschungszentrum Jülich.”