Hydrogen fuel cell news and innovations

Hydrogen fuel cells: INOCEL launches with Mike Horn

Written by INFO INOCEL on October 24, 2022. Posted in Hydrogen Fuel Cell News and Innovations - INOCEL.

The young company is the result of a collaboration between the adventurer and the CEA in Grenoble. It has just announced the increase of its capital by 10 million euros.

From a sports project to an entrepreneurial adventure. The start-up Inocel has just announced a capital increase of 10 million euros. The genesis of this company, created in May, began with a collaboration between the adventurer Mike Horn and the CEA in Grenoble. The former wanted to “decarbonize” the Dakar Rally by winning it with a hydrogen car, so he called on the Innovation Laboratory for New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials. The project then branched out to focus on the technology developed: a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC).

“The cell we are developing is particularly efficient and powerful, which is not usually the case for PEMFCs,” says Jules Billiet, Inocel’s deputy CEO. Hence the desire to move quickly towards industrialization, even if it means putting the Dakar project on hold. “We are targeting three segments: maritime transport, land transport – such as trucks, construction equipment or excavators – and stationary transport, such as generators,” he says.

Demonstrator by the end of 2022

Another decisive factor in the creation of Inocel is the arrival in the project of Mauro Ricci, who founded and directed the Akka Technologies group for thirty-eight years. In addition to his experience as a manager, he brings the major part of the funds of the round table. He now chairs the start-up’s advisory board, which also includes Mike Horn and four others. The company is managed by a tandem composed of Stéphane Rabatel and Jules Billiet.

The schedule is ambitious. “Two demonstrators are underway, one of which will be presented at the end of the year at the Paris Boat Show,” says Rabatel. The “100% technical” team already has about twenty people and should grow by another fifteen before the end of the year. Pre-production models should be launched in the second half of 2023, with industrial production scheduled for 2024.

How Does a Fuel Cell Work?

Written by INFO INOCEL on August 9, 2022. Posted in Hydrogen Fuel Cell News and Innovations - INOCEL.

Understanding a fuel cell might seem taunting at first, but at the end, it is just a question of chemistry. The fuel cell mechanism is easy: convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

To solve this equation, the fuel cell is composed of two components, the bipolar plate, a key component in PEM fuel cells which diffuse gases, and a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). This MEA made of multiple layers, is composed with an electrolyte membrane and assembled on one side with a catalyst layer of anode, a oxidizing electrode that releases electrons, and on the other with a catalyst layer of cathode, a reducing electrode that acquires electrons. Hydrogen is injected in the fuel cell on the anode side while oxygen (from air) is passed through the cathode. Once the hydrogen reaches the catalyst layer in the MEA, the hydrogen molecules split into electrons and protons.

An important thing to keep in mind before moving on to the next step, is that protons are positive electrical charged particles, while electrons are negative charges. All electrical charges collected on the bipolar plate represent the available electrical energy.

The membrane has the role of electrolyte in the cell and allows only the protons to pass from the anode side to the cathode side. This means that the protons, once separated from their electron counterparts, are free to make their way through the membrane, while the electrons remain trapped on the anode side. For the atoms to be equalized, the meeting of both particles is crucial. The electrons are then forced through a different circuit to reconnect with the protons, and while these travel, the flow of electrons generates electricity and heat.

Once it reaches the cathode side, the electrons reconnect with the protons and with the injected oxygen producing water molecules (H2O) which are then ejected as waste from the fuel cell. This means that any type of machinery or transportation currently consuming gas to produce energy, could replace its combustion engine by a zero-emission, sustainable power source. A sign of hope for a decarbonized future.