The Carbon Trust confirmed that the company's radical solution is potentially simpler and cheaper than conventional PEM fuel cell technology. ACAL Energy's FlowCath^® technology uses an inexpensive liquid catalyst for the cathode, to achieve the same performance while offering lower costs and reduced system complexity.

Detailed Carbon Trust analysis, based on a US Department of Energy model, has shown that the ACAL technology has the potential to cut system costs, once in mass production, by up to 40 per cent, while potentially increasing durability.

Dr Robert Trezona, Research Accelerator Director at the Carbon Trust comments: 'In one step, ACAL’s technology solves fundamental issues of cost and performance which the fuel cell industry has been trying to overcome for the past 20 years, in particular for automotive products, which are the most challenging applications for fuel cells.'

'The Carbon Trust’s PEM challenge program will enable us to accelerate development of our technology for use in cars,' comments Dr SB Cha, CEO of ACAL Energy. 'While ACAL will initially offer products for use in stationary power applications, our longer-term focus remains automotive.'

ACAL Energy and its development partners are currently preparing to install the first FlowCath system in a practical application, at the Warrington, Cheshire site of Solvay Interox Ltd.