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PolyFuel 1245 Terra Bella Avenue Mountain View, CA USA 94043 TEL: +1 (650) 429-4700 FAX: +1 (650) 930-0219 www.polyfuel.com Ian Godwin Director, IR & Corporate Communications Johnson Matthey Plc 40-42 Hatton Garden London EC1N 8EE United Kingdom Tel: +44 (020) 7269 8410 Fax: +44 (020) 7269 8466 e-mail: godwini@matthey.com |
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – April 11, 2006 – PolyFuel, Inc., one of the world leaders in engineered membranes for fuel cells, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to provide Johnson Matthey with the PolyFuel hydrocarbon direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) membrane intended for fuel cells to power portable devices. Johnson Matthey will use these membranes in the manufacture of catalyst coated membranes (CCMs) and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), which are the part of a fuel cell that actually transforms fuel into electricity.
Johnson Matthey is a leader in fuel cell catalysts, in marrying catalysts and membranes, and in engineering, manufacturing and selling the catalyst coated membranes and membrane electrode assemblies. Under the terms of the agreement, Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells will be a PolyFuel "channel partner" and will purchase PolyFuel's DMFC hydrocarbon membranes to manufacture a variety of CCM and MEA products for the portable fuel cell market.
PolyFuel first launched its hydrocarbon membrane technology for the portable fuel cell market in early 2004. It garnered immediate attention worldwide as a result of the superior chemical, mechanical and electrochemical characteristics of its membrane, characteristics that PolyFuel believes will, for the first time, allow practical, commercial fuel cell designs for the portable market.
Jim Balcom, president and CEO of PolyFuel said, "This announcement is significant on several fronts. First, it serves notice to portable device manufacturers and fuel cell manufacturers that high-performance DMFC CCMs and MEAs will soon be available commercially, and from a top industry supplier as well. This should help to accelerate that market, and encourage a widening of development efforts. Second, it signals a close collaboration between PolyFuel and Johnson Matthey that should result in impressive new developments in membrane, catalyst and MEA technology by virtue of their symbiosis. Third, to observers of PolyFuel, in combination with our recent disclosure that NEC and Sanyo are the first publicly announced users of our membranes, this demonstrates the momentum we are seeing in the market."
Balcom elaborated, "Our membrane is being closely evaluated by virtually every significant battery, fuel cell, and portable electronic manufacturer out there. Now, for the first time, these companies will have a choice to purchase this membrane either directly from PolyFuel or integrated into CCMs or MEAs from Johnson Matthey."
Dr. Jonathan Frost, Director of Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells said, "A high-volume, portable fuel cell market will be an important driver in the development and widespread use of fuel cells in all applications. Strategically, this is an important business for us. Designers of methanol fuelled portable fuel cells feel that PolyFuel's membranes have advantages for their devices and now we can offer CCMs and MEAs that combine PolyFuel's hydrocarbon membranes with Johnson Matthey's strengths in catalysts and MEA design."
Johnson Matthey (www.matthey.com) is a £4.6 billion sales, speciality chemicals company with headquarters in London, UK. It is focused on its core skills in catalysts, precious metals and fine chemicals.
The group's principal activities are the manufacture of autocatalysts and pollution control systems, catalysts and components for fuel cells, pharmaceutical compounds, process catalysts and fine chemicals; the refining, fabrication and marketing of precious metals; and the manufacture of colors and coatings for the glass and ceramics industries.
Johnson Matthey has continued to develop its technology for almost 200 years, demonstrating the company's ability to maintain world leadership by adapting constantly to rapidly changing customer needs. Rigorous in its own environmental policies, many of Johnson Matthey's products have a major beneficial impact on the environment and enhance the quality of life for millions around the world.
Johnson Matthey has operations in 34 countries and employs around 7,400 people. Its products are sold across the world to a wide range of advanced technology industries.
The Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells business is based in Swindon UK and supplies catalysts and MEA's to the growing fuel cell market.
PolyFuel (www.polyfuel.com) is a world leader in engineered membranes that provide significantly improved performance in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) and hydrogen fuel cells, particularly for portable electronic and automotive applications. The state of the art of fuel cells is essentially that of the membrane, and PolyFuel's best in class, hydrocarbon-based membranes enable a new generation of fuel cells that for the first time can deliver on the long-awaited promise of clean, long-running, and cost-effective portable power.
PolyFuel has an unmatched capability to rapidly translate the system-level requirements of fuel cell designers and manufacturers into engineered polymer nano-architectures. Such capability — based on PolyFuel's over 150 combined years of fuel cell experience, world-class polymer nano-architects, and a fundamental patent position covering more than 15 different inventions — also makes PolyFuel an essential development partner and supplier to any company seeking to advance the state of the art in fuel cells. Polymer electrolyte fuel cells built with PolyFuel membranes can be smaller, lighter, longer-running, more efficient, less expensive and more robust than those made with other membrane materials.
PolyFuel's target customers are the world's leading portable fuel cell system developers. Of the 19 such customers currently engaged, 11 are divisions of household brand name consumer electronics manufacturers, and sixteen of the nineteen are now testing or have tested PolyFuel's fuel cell membrane material. Of the 16, eleven have completed their evaluation testing and all eleven have gone on to purchase PolyFuel's membrane products. Five of the largest Japanese and Korean consumer electronics companies now rank PolyFuel's membrane as the best portable fuel cell membrane available in the world today. To date, NEC and Sanyo have disclosed they are using PolyFuel membranes.
PolyFuel was spun out of SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) in 1999, after 14 years of applied membrane research. The company is based in Mountain View, California, and is publicly listed on the AIM stock exchange in London.
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