News

JMC to Sell North American Metal-Hydride Factory

August 20, 2003 by Jeff Shepard

Japan Metals and Chemicals USA Inc. (JMC, Japan), a metal and materials company, announced plans to sell its plant in North Carolina, which was specifically built to produce metal-hydride powder. The metal-hydride factory was initially set up in 1997 to supply metal-hydride in powder form to a locally based, secondary battery manufacturer, which closed.

JMC is selling the building complete with equipment capable of producing up to 1,000 metric tonnes annually of metal-hydride powder, which is used to store hydrogen for fuel cells, particularly in the portable and automotive sectors. JMC is continuing to manufacture the metal-hydride materials in Japan and even to research new potential metal-hydride mixtures for the reversible storage of hydrogen to enable the introduction of fuel cell technology.