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Toshiba Microreactor Extracts Hydrogen for Micro Fuel Cells

March 30, 2006 by Jeff Shepard

Toshiba Corp. announced the development of a microreactor that functions like a miniature hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen from dimethyl ether (DME) and carbon-based fuels to power a fuel cell.

The palm-size device is about one fifth the proportion of a conventional hydrogen reformer, but it produces 200cc of hydrogen per minute when fed 50cc of DME and 200cc of water. That is enough hydrogen to enable a solid polymer fuel cell to generate around 20 watts of electricity and power a notebook computer.

The microreactor is fabricated from a metal substrate etched with a series of several dozen trenches, each 150 microns wide and 4mm deep. The inner walls of the trenches are coated with a platinum catalyst that promotes the generation of hydrogen when DME and water flow through the trenches while the microreactor is heated to 350 °C.

Because the microreactor is small, the overall fuel cell system can be miniaturized, making it easier to integrate into computers and other electronic products. Toshiba presented its work at a meeting of the Society of Chemical Engineers this week in Tokyo.