Corporate Profile - Posted on Fuel Cells Today.com 4/24/06
Franklin Fuel Cells
Fuel Cells Today, EIN Publishing, April 24, 2006 - EIN STAFF: 4/21 - Franklin Fuel Cells, Inc. is a three-year-old, venture-backed, early stage solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology company located in suburban Philadelphia, PA.
Franklin is the only fuel cell technology company to offer patented, proprietary copper-ceria anode technology to enable operation of an SOFC directly on heavy hydrocarbon fuels containing sulfur, without the problems commonly associated with traditional nickel-anode SOFCs. The company's technology has proven capable of operating on everything from 93-octane pump gas and kerosene to nearly every hydrocarbon fuel currently available.
Franklin's patented copper-ceria anode technology was originally developed at the University of Pennsylvania by Drs. Raymond Gorte and John Vohs. Franklin exclusively licensed the technology and has subsequently continued to develop it for commercialization.
The technology boasts two significant benefits -- one in relationship to the fuel and the other in relationship to the system. On the fuel side, Franklin's copper-ceria anode offers a number of benefits over the traditional nickel anode. Unlike nickel, which is very sensitive to sulfur and which catalyzes the carbon in hydrocarbon fuels and "fouls," destroying the fuel cell, Franklin's technology enables unmatched fuel flexibility and sulfur tolerance in excess of 500ppm, and it does not "foul" when exposed to hydrocarbon fuels.
On the system side, nickel-anode shortcomings require the addition of reformers and de-sulfurizers to the system, which significantly add to system complexity and cost. Here, Franklin's system benefit is in its unique direct-oxidation SOFC technology. The Franklin DOSOFC feeds hydrocarbon fuel directly into the fuel cell anode without the need for the extra cost, size, weight, complexity or efficiency-robbing reformers or de-sulfurizers. The result can be a system with lower capital costs and maintenance, simpler system design and higher efficiency -- up to two-times higher than internal combustion engines, and a range of 30 to 40 percent more efficient than competing fuel cell technologies.
"Our technology is a true enabling technology that allows SOFC developers to get to market sooner and to serve a larger overall market," said Franklin president and CEO John Law.
Contact: Kara Shenk, Franklin, phone 610-640-7545, website http://www.franklinfuelcells.com.
(EIN STAFF: 4/21)
