Medis Technologies Ltd. (New York, NY) announced that it has successfully demonstrated that its direct liquid methanol (DLM) fuel cells can utilize a range of alcohols or mixtures of alcohols as fuel without reducing the performance or longevity of the fuel cell. This was accomplished at the Fuel Cell 2001 Asian Conference (Japan). At the conference, Medis presented fuel cells operating on ethanol that performed at the highest level of its methanol fuel cells.
Medis also displayed updated performance characteristics of the company's DLM fuel cell at the conference, showing 5,100mA (more than 40 hours) of continuous operation on the initial fueling using methanol. The company reports that this is a significant advance over its performance in April 2001, during the Knowledge Foundation's 3rd Annual International Symposium on Small Fuel Cells and Battery Technologies for Portable Power Applications (Washington, DC).
"We consider this new development in the use of ethanol to be a major achievement in the arena of fuel cells for portable electronic devices," said Robert Lifton, chairman and CEO of the company. "An ethanol fuel cell would resolve all the questions raised about the safety of methanol and the ability to carry methanol-bearing products on airplanes and elsewhere. Moreover, the flexibility of Medis' technology allows it to use alcohol fuels that have a much lower freezing point than diluted methanol. The ability to use alcohol is especially important for military applications where the fuel cells have to operate outdoors in sub-zero temperatures."
