Genepax Co Ltd explained the technologies used in its
new fuel cell system "Water Energy System (WES)," which uses water as a fuel and
does not emit CO2. The system can generate power just by supplying water and
air to the fuel and air electrodes, respectively, the company said at the press
conference, which took place June 12, 2008, at the Osaka Assembly Hall.
The basic power generation mechanism of the new system is similar to that of a
normal fuel cell, which uses hydrogen as a fuel. According to Genepax, the main
feature of the new system is that it uses the company's membrane electrode
assembly (MEA), which contains a material capable of breaking down water into
hydrogen and oxygen through a chemical reaction. Though the company did not
reveal the details, it 'succeeded in adopting a well-known process to produce
hydrogen from water to the MEA,' said Hirasawa Kiyoshi, the company's president.
This process is allegedly similar to the mechanism that produces hydrogen by a
reaction of metal hydride and water. But compared with the existing method, the
new process is expected to produce hydrogen from water for longer time, the
company said.
With the new process, the cell needs only water and air, eliminating the need
for a hydrogen reformer and high-pressure hydrogen tank. Moreover, the MEA
requires no special catalysts, and the required amount of rare metals such as
platinum is almost the same as that of existing systems, Genepax said. Unlike
the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), which uses methanol as a fuel, the new
system does not emit CO2. In addition, it is expected to have a longer life
because catalyst degradation (poisoning) caused by CO does not occur on the fuel
electrode side. As it has only been slightly more than a year since the company
completed the prototype, it plans to collect more data on the product life.
That said, Tech-On! says Genepax plans to produce a 1-kW generation system for powering electric cars and homes, and it believes it can cut costs to around $4,000 or less if mass production works out. In electric cars, Genepax expects the system will be used "as a generator to charge the secondary battery."
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