Franklin Fuel Cells Reports Successful Tests and Demonstrations on 16 Hydrocarbon Fuels

Company’s Proprietary SOFC Technology

Shows “Unmatched Fuel Flexibility ”

MALVERN, PA – August 10, 2006– Franklin Fuel Cells, Inc. reports that it has successfully “tested, demonstrated, and proven” its patented, proprietary SOFC technology on 16 different hydrocarbon fuels: “virtually every current, commercially-available liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuel; done without the need for reformers or de-sulfurizers, and without requiring cell modifications from one fuel to the next.”

The tests were performed on all of the following hydrocarbon fuels: BP/Amoco 93-octane pump gasoline, E85, Methanol, Ethanol, Propane, 2006 commercial Diesel (30ppm S), Kerosene, Natural Gas, Butane, Methane, Hexane, Decane, Dodecane, Hexadecane, JP-8, and Heavy Naphtha. Performance graphs of the tests are available from Franklin.

The reasons for the success is Franklin’s patented Copper-Ceria anode technology which has both a high Sulfur tolerance in excess of 500ppm, and does not “foul” when exposed to hydrocarbon fuels. The result is an SOFC in which the hydrocarbon fuel can be fed directly into the anode, thereby creating Franklin’s unique Direct-Oxidation SOFC technology, or DOSOFC, and no reformers or de-sulfurizers. The company says the payoff 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 – 40% more efficient than any other fuel-cell technology”). This, combined with its ability to run on today’s hydrocarbon fuels, can also mean that Franklin’s technology can enable a “smooth and continuous transition” from fossil fuels to bio-fuels, and on to hydrogen.

“Fuel flexibility is a key advantage of our technology,” said John P. Law, Franklin’s President and CEO. “The ability to offer a single fuel-cell technology that can provide a common platform to transition from any of our fuels of today to the new fuels of tomorrow, enables this technology to get to larger markets sooner than other fuel-cell technologies.”

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Rick Menapace
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