SAFCELL

Company Overview

SAFCell is an energy technology firm specializing in the marketing and commercialization of the unique solid acid fuel cell (SAFC), which was created and patented at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). When compared to other fuel cell technologies now in development, solid acid fuel cells provide substantial cost and performance benefits.

In comparison to current fuel cell technologies, the technique enables real-world fuel utilization, stack cost reductions and considerable system simplifications.

According to SAFCell founder and CEO Dr. Calum Chisholm, in Nov. 2010, the company achieved the second technical milestone on its 18-month development contract with Nordic Power Systems to deliver solid acid fuel cell (SAFC) stacks for incorporation into NPS diesel auxiliary power units (APUs). SAFCell delivered a 250W stack to NPS’ testing facility in Porsgrunn, Norway. The SAFC stack was integrated and tested with NPS proprietary cool flame diesel reformer system, converting the chemical energy of the diesel fuel directly into electrical power.
The SAFC stack operates on both dilute hydrogen and NPS diesel reformate with insignificant difference in performance between the two fuel streams. The fuel cell operates with up to 10% CO without any effect on the performance. The performance confirmed previously demonstrated SAFC tolerance to high levels of impurities that poison other lower temperature fuel cell technologies and dramatically decrease performance.

The technology was developed at the California Institute of Technology and the project is run with support from the Norwegian Research Council. NPS signed an exclusive license agreement with Caltech for future commercialization of SAFC stacks for use with diesel and bio diesel fuels, while SAFCell has a similar agreement for the use of all other lighter fuels: propane, methane and liquid fuels such as gasoline and methanol.

The SAFC stack demonstrated operability on commercial diesel reformate gas under realistic operating conditions, with 75% the performance of lab testing under pure hydrogen. This minimal performance loss confirms SAFC tolerance to high levels of impurities that poison and dramatically decrease the performance of lower-temperature fuel cell technologies.

The SAFC stack is built within NPS' cool flame diesel reformer system, which converts the chemical energy of the diesel fuel into clean electricity and heat. NPS hopes to offer lighter, quieter, less expensive, and higher-performing diesel fuel cell devices that combine these two innovative technologies for both mobile and fixed auxiliary power applications. The combination of these two technologies has progressed quickly thanks to assistance from the Norwegian Research Council. Select partners have received demonstrators from NPS.

In 2019, the company deployed the first commercial systems in the Canadian oil and gas market. In 2021, Caltech and Northwestern granted SAFCell exclusive rights to patents relating to hydrogen production using solid acid electrolyte membranes and associated technology. SAFCell hopes to build large-scale systems for the manufacture of ultra-pure hydrogen from a variety of liquid hydrogen carriers, such as ammonia, methanol and methylcyclohexane, using these rights and SAFCell's manufacturing know-how. Liquid hydrogen carriers are critical for using green hydrogen to decarbonize energy sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy-duty transportation.

Company's Business Segments

• Product : Solid Acid Hydrogen Generators, Solid Acid Fuel Cells, Others
• Service : Research and Development, Testing, Technical Support, Partnerships, Others