ANN ARBOR—If University of Michigan Prof. Levi Thompson and his corporate partners are successful, high-performance proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell-based power supplies may soon be available to replace batteries in applications ranging from cars and military vehicles to cellular phones and personal digital assistants.

As their immediate goal, Thompson—a faculty member with the University’s Department of Chemical Engineering—and his collaborators are working to develop catalysts that would significantly reduce the size, weight, and cost of fuel processors, which are essential components for the conversion of hydrocarbons like gasoline into hydrogen for PEM fuel cells.

The project began less than two years ago when Thompson’s research team conducted a feasibility study funded by the Cooperative Automotive Research for Advanced Technology Program of the U. S. Department of Energy. At that the time, they successfully demonstrated new catalyst formulations that were competitive with current commercial fuel-processing catalysts. During the second phase of the project, Thompson will team with several corporate partners to produce a fuel processor based on these new catalysts. Including support from the Department of Energy and current cost-sharing commitments, funding for this three-year Phase II project will exceed $1 million.

In addition to Thompson, who serves as project director, partners and co-investigators in this venture are Jon Wagner of Süd Chemie (formerly United Catalyst, Inc.), Christopher Papile of Catalyte, LLC, and Purnesh Seegopaul of Union Miniere Research, a division of Union Miniere USA, Inc. The U-M College of Engineering Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization will also participate by providing assistance with marketing and licensing of the technology. Thompson notes that this partnership brings together a complementary set of capabilities: research, materials production, large-scale manufacturing, marketing, and distribution.

Fuel cell and fuel processor designs present a number of unusual and difficult challenges to engineers and manufacturers. Gasoline or diesel fuels are favored for many prospective commercial applications. This is problematic, since fuel cells are far more efficient at burning hydrogen than the hydrocarbons that comprise gasoline. Fuel processors are used to convert hydrocarbons into hydrogen-rich fuel for the PEM fuel cell. A component known as the Water Gas Shift (WGS) reactor contributes to the production of hydrogen and, even more importantly, removes most of the carbon monoxide generated as a byproduct of other fuel processing reactions. Carbon monoxide can seriously impede the performance of PEM fuel cells.

The WGS reactor is the single largest component in most fuel processors, accounting for one-third of the total mass, volume, and cost. By reducing the reactor’s size as much as 50 percent, Thompson and his partners hope to achieve a substantial reduction in the entire system, thereby making fuel cells a practical and affordable alternative to conventional batteries in a wide range of applications. In the interest of offering a further advantage to manufacturers, the group is hoping to create a high-performance catalyst that can also tolerate sulfur, a major component of gasoline, which subverts the operation of conventional catalysts in fuel processors.

When asked to describe the significance of this research project, Thompson pointed out that a number of major companies are betting fuel cells will replace batteries and other kinds of power supplies for a variety of applications. “It’s a very large emerging market,” he notes. “Our success in producing a highly efficient and cost-effective WGS catalyst is going to have a major impact on industry’s ability to manufacture small, inexpensive fuel-cell-based power supplies. Some have called this an enabling technology. If that is true, and if we manage to address some of the key challenges, a number of very important commercial opportunities will open up, and our partners will be able to lead the charge.”

For more information, contact Thompson at (734) 936-2015 or ltt@umich.edu or Patricia Majher of the College of Engineering Media and Marketing Office at (734) 647-7089 or pmajher@umich.edu

Levi ThompsonDepartment of Chemical EngineeringCooperative Automotive Research for Advanced Technology ProgramSüd Chemieltt@umich.edu