Argonne and Süd-Chemie Sign Agreement  to Accelerate Fuel Cell Development

Argonne and Süd-Chemie Inc. (formerly United Catalysts Inc.) have signed a licensing agreement under which Süd-Chemie will manufacture and distribute a partial oxidation catalyst developed and patented by Argonne. The catalyst forms the heart of a component that will allow fuel-cell-powered cars to run on conventional fuel. 

Michael Krumpelt holds the partial oxidation catalyst next to an engineering-scale fuel processor.

The Argonne team, led by Michael Krumpelt and Shabbir Ahmed, developed this catalyst for use in the fuel processor of an automotive fuel cell system. It efficiently converts a wide variety of hydrocarbon fuels, including methanol, natural gas, and gasoline, into a hydrogen-rich gas. In addition to this fuel flexibility, the novel catalyst has demonstrated excellent resistance to sulfur in the fuel, a property essential for reliable, long-term operation of the processor. 

The new catalyst is a result of a long-term focus at Argonne. In the late 1980s, researchers began exploring the catalytic conversion (“reforming”) of liquid fuel to hydrogen inside a fuel cell system. Industry judged this work to be too risky because of the enormous challenge of finding the right catalyst. Diligent efforts by the Argonne team, however, eventually uncovered a class of new materials that support the partial oxidation chemistry for gasoline and other liquid fuels. (Partial oxidation is the primary reaction by which the hydrocarbon fuel is converted into hydrogen.) 

By mid-1997 they had developed an engineering-scale processor with this catalytic material that produces hydrogen from commercial gasoline and natural gas. This device produces about one-fifth the amount of hydrogen needed for a conventional car — a major step toward the realization of commercially available fuel-cell-powered automobiles. 

The partial oxidation catalyst also makes use of the fuel processor more attractive for other fuel cell applications, such as power for residential buildings and remote locations. Depending on the commercial success of fuel cells, the worldwide market for such a catalyst could be as high as a half billion dollars per year within 10 years. 

Argonne’s licensing partnership with Süd-Chemie Inc. is the most recent of more than 600 partnering arrangements over the past 10 years. These licensing agreements are one way Argonne is working with industry to leverage government research to strengthen the nation's technology base. The agreement is also expected to open the door to further cooperative research efforts, leading to the possible development of the next generation of fuel processor catalysts. 

The catalyst invented by the Argonne researchers was made possible by support from the Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies program to overcome the technical barriers to fuel-cell-powered vehicles.

Süd-Chemie Inc. has been the leading developer and manufacturer of catalysts for the production of hydrogen from hydrocarbons for more than 50 years. From the inception of the fuel cell industry, Süd-Chemie has been a major supplier of catalysts used in the critical fuel cell processor.

November 28, 2000