Avista Labs (Spokane, WA) announced its affiliate H2fuel LLC (Mt. Prospect, IL) is developing new technology that would greatly reduce the cost of producing hydrogen for use in fuel cells.
The new membrane-based technology works by eliminating carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from readily available fuels such as natural gas and propane, thus allowing the production of nearly pure hydrogen. This is important for fuel cells, because the cleaner the hydrogen fed into them, the more efficiently they tend to run.
According to H2Fuel President Serge Randhava, this membrane-based approach to the extraction and purification of hydrogen from natural gas or propane is a departure from other methods currently in use, and is expected to be less expensive than other methods.
