The US government has handed a substantial grant to a company developing a way of creating the hydrogen fuel that could power future fuel cell vehicles and industrial fuel cell technology.

FuelCell Energy was awarded the $1.36 million grant from the country's Department of Defence to advance its Electrochemical Hydrogen Separator (EHS) project.

Its new process separates pure hydrogen from a gas mixture, while only using half the energy needed by more conventional hydrogen separation methods.

"This contract award combines our expertise in ultra-clean and high efficiency power generation from our DFC products with the strength of our electrochemical separation technology," said Christopher Bentley, executive vice president of government research and development operations for FuelCell Energy.

"This product has the potential to support the market demand for fuel cell automobiles as well as onsite hydrogen supply for industrial applications."

The pgm palladium is also being used in research into the process of hydrogen separation.

Yi Hua Ma, a chemical engineering professor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, USA, has said the use of palladium membranes provides the most effective response to the problem.

In 2003, professor Ma and a six-man team were given a $1.5 million grant by Shell International Exploration and Production to discover a way to minimise the amounts of palladium used in the process of separating hydrogen from gaseous mixtures.

Palladium could also be used in hydrogen storage, which will become an issue for fuel cell vehicle fuelling stations and hydrogen fuel containers for industry and homes in the future.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd