PYF Polyfuel Regs

RNS Number:7244U
PolyFuel Inc.
12 April 2007

    


      POLYFUEL RECEIVES BROAD PATENTS ON KEY PORTABLE FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY


Polyfuel, Inc. (AIM:PYF), a world leader in the development of engineered
membranes for portable fuel cell applications, today announces that it has been
issued two broad patents for fundamental fuel cell technology by the United
States Patent and Trademark Office. The patents, with the titles "Ion Conductive
Block Copolymers" and "Sulfonated Copolymer", cover some of the sophisticated
chemistry and breakthroughs behind PolyFuel's growing family of high
performance, hydrocarbon-based polymer fuel cell membranes.


The patents are significant because such membranes, which resemble flexible
sheets of cellophane, are the critical technology behind portable fuel cells,
and to a large degree dictate their size, cost, power and efficiency. Such
"micro power" fuel cells are widely expected to begin supplanting batteries as
the primary power source when extended runtimes are desired for increasingly
power-hungry portable electronic devices such as laptop computers, PDAs, and
smart phones. On the strength of its membrane technology, PolyFuel is moving
into a dominant market and technology position, and these broad patent grants
are expected to secure PolyFuel's state of the art position in hydrocarbon
membranes for portable fuel cell applications.


To date, PolyFuel has filed 23 patent applications, and these are the first of
several "composition of matter" applications to be granted.


PolyFuel president and CEO Jim Balcom said, "In any new field, there are
ultimately a few, benchmark patents from which much future technology springs.
We believe that this is one of those situations, and our investors and customers
should be encouraged that we now have such key intellectual property protection
in place."


                                     -Ends-



For further information please contact:

PolyFuel, Inc                                     Tel: +1 650 429 4646
Jim Balcom, Chief Executive Officer
Mark Campion, Chief Financial Officer

Hogarth Partnership Limited                       Tel: +44 (0)20 7357 9477
Nick Denton / Sarah MacLeod / Ian Payne

Collins Stewart Europe Limited                    Tel: +44 (0)20 7523 8000
Mark Connelly





Notes to Editors:


State of the Art


There are essentially two alternative technologies for the design of portable
direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), based upon the type of polymer used to
create the plastic film-like membranes that make fuel cells possible. One
technology, pioneered by DuPont(R), uses membranes based on fluorocarbon
polymers, similar to the ones used to manufacture the non-stick Teflon(R)
coating on frying pans, and fibers for Gore-Tex(R) water-resistant fabrics.
DuPont originally developed the so-called fluorocarbon membranes, now marketed
under the trade name Nafion(R), in the late 1960s, for the early U.S. space
program.


The other technology, significantly newer in origin, has been pioneered by
PolyFuel, SRI, Honda, and others. Instead of fluorocarbon polymers, the
technology uses hydrocarbon polymers - long chains of organic molecules of
varying composition - to form extremely stable films with carefully engineered
properties.


For many years, and prior to the widespread availability of hydrocarbon
membranes from PolyFuel, developers of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) had no
choice but to use fluorocarbon membrane materials, which were originally
developed for hydrogen fuel cells. However, fluorocarbon membranes have some
significant performance drawbacks when used in DMFCs. First their
proton-conducting channels tend to be somewhat larger than is optimal. Second,
fluorocarbon membranes have a soft, rubbery consistency, and in the presence of
methanol, tend to swell, making the proton channels even larger still. The net
effect of these drawbacks is that the water and methanol from the fuel supply
practically pour through the channels, along with the protons, but without
making any electricity, significantly reducing efficiency and requiring that the
fuel cell has a larger fuel tank.


PolyFuel's now-patented hydrocarbon membrane material self-assembles proton
channels that are nano-engineered to be significantly smaller than those in
fluorocarbon membranes. The polymer matrix is also much tougher and stronger so
that it does not swell to the same degree as fluorocarbon membranes. The net
result is that more of the water and methanol remain on the fuel side of the
fuel cell, where they can be used to create useful electricity. The fuel cell is
also able to breathe easier, and doesn't create as much heat, water and CO2,
which in turn enables the fuel cell to be smaller, lighter, less expensive, and
longer running.


Although there continues to be active development work on fluorocarbon-based
fuel cells, in recent years, the most active and promising developments have
come from hydrocarbon membranes, many of them from PolyFuel, because of the
widening performance gap between the two fundamental technologies. Samsung, for
example, recently characterized PolyFuel's latest membrane as "a breakthrough"
in their efforts to develop portable fuel cells (see: "PolyFuel Sets New Record
for Portable Fuel Cell Performance - Again", November 7, 2006). Much of the
technology behind that breakthrough membrane is protected by these two new
patents.


Together, PolyFuel's composition of matter patents, US 7,094,490 and 7,202,001
are broad in their scope, and describe a nearly infinite number of permutations
of hydrocarbon membranes, which gives the company outstanding protection in such
an important, commercially imminent field.


About PolyFuel


PolyFuel (www.polyfuel.com) is a world leader in engineered membranes that
provide significantly improved performance in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC)
and hydrogen fuel cells, particularly for portable electronic and automotive
applications. The state of the art of fuel cells is essentially that of the
membrane, and PolyFuel's best in class, hydrocarbon-based membranes enable a new
generation of fuel cells that for the first time can deliver on the long-awaited
promise of clean, long-running, and cost-effective portable power.



PolyFuel has an unmatched capability to rapidly translate the system-level
requirements of fuel cell designers and manufacturers into engineered polymer
nano-architectures. Such capability - based on PolyFuel's over 150 combined
years of fuel cell experience, world-class polymer nano-architects, and a
fundamental patent position covering more than 23 different inventions - also
makes PolyFuel an essential development partner and supplier to any company
seeking to advance the state of the art in fuel cells. Polymer electrolyte fuel
cells built with PolyFuel membranes can be smaller, lighter, longer-running,
more efficient, less expensive and more robust than those made with other
membrane materials.


PolyFuel is working with most of the world's leading portable fuel cell system
developers, the majority of whom are household brand name consumer electronics
manufacturers. Several of the largest Japanese and Korean consumer electronics
companies rank PolyFuel's membrane as the best portable fuel cell membrane
available in the world today. To date, NEC, Sanyo and Samsung have disclosed
they are using PolyFuel membranes.


PolyFuel was spun out of SRI International (formerly the Stanford Research
Institute) in 1999, after 14 years of applied membrane research. The company is
based in Mountain View, California, and is publicly listed on the AIM stock
exchange in London.


This news release may contain forward-looking statements, including with respect
to the development of the fuel cell market. Readers are cautioned that such
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without
limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential
products. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in
these forward-looking statements.






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