Public Funding for Adelan Limited

Fuel cell manufacturing scale-up is key to meeting UK Net Zero transportation obligations, encouraging domestic manufacturing and creating jobs in a growing field. Fuel cell range extenders will encourage uptake of new EVs through addressing some of the shortcomings of battery-only EVs, such as lengthy recharging times. This rare opportunity incorporates British supply chains into an emerging clean technology, based on UK innovation, securing global competitiveness. Adelan's technology is both hydrogen ready and fuel flexible, enabling use of renewable hydrocarbons in the short term and green hydrogen long term, and is already demonstrated in automotive applications as auxiliary power. Battery-fuel cell hybrid systems offers a key advantage compared with battery-only electric vehicles, but roll-out has been slowed by the lack of hydrogen availability. This project aligns with national climate change commitments outlined in the 'Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution' and 'UK Hydrogen Strategy' through encouraging end-use applications. It addresses serious problems identified in the UK's battery strategy by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee (2021) "1st report - Battery strategy goes flat: Net-zero target at risk". Use of fuel cell range extenders could stimulate hydrogen infrastructure and make electric vehicles more attractive for users through reducing vehicle weight, volume and costs, while easing range anxiety presented by battery-only vehicles. Anchoring a UK supply chain cluster to support this product could enable intervention in other sectors, such as aviation, marine, remote power, and construction equipment, leading to wider social benefits. Economies of scale will drive down costs of manufacturing, centred around the automotive heart of the UK within the Midlands. The feasibility study examines the practicalities and cost-benefits of scaled manufacturing of a British fuel cell, using local experts. The partners involved in the project are: Adelan: A fuel cell technology company founded in 1996, holder of key patents and IP for the proposed fuel cell range extender. Alliance Procurement Solutions: Experts in sustainable supply chain management. ANT Industries: A medium-sized business helping technologists scale-up their manufacturing capability. The Manufacturing Technology Centre: Specialists in integrated manufacturing solutions across a variety of engineering sectors. The success of this feasibility study and introducing manufacturing of a commercial product will support British jobs and industry, develop British-owned IP, grow UK export potential and help the UK and other nations meet critical climate goals in the shortest time possible. This project is vital to meeting our growth and climate objectives.

This project is to develop a ‘SOFcSOLar’ (SOFSOL) home power system combining the solar battery infrastructure of the Jiangsu partner ZNB with the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) knowledge of the UK company Adelan, with manufacturing expertise from Conrad Anderson. Renewable energy is increasingly used in China homes, but is limited by energy storage. Batteries are traditionally being used to store the intermittent renewable energy but the problem is battery weight, volume and cost. We have shown that fuel cells can enhance the battery storage to give many times more storage and back-up capacity for the same weight/volume/cost, while also providing hot water from the gas grid. Therefore the proposed new solar/battery/fuel cell product to be developed in this project will be beneficial in solar house applications, with large market demand. The project is led by Dr K Kendall FRS, Adelan Ltd in the UK and by Mr Guo Junping, assisted by SOFC expert Dr Liang Bo, in Jiangsu. The UK and China partners have a strong track record in the fuel cell, battery and solar fields and have visited each other many times over the past 3 years. The outcomes will be:- A new joint company to commercialise the results in China markets; New product prototypes for market application in China; New IPR for inventions; New publications in Scientific Journals.

This project examines the feasibility of a new SOFC device in the field of fuel cells, an invention which could lead to more economic portable power in stationary vehicles such as campervans and police vans. Up to now, the fuel cell has been too expensive to apply in such applications. Even after long development, a small fuel cell system for power/heat costs almost £13,000. These high costs are coming down as production increases (about 50,000 units were installed in Japan in 2014) but in the UK less than 100 systems are installed now. By utilizing a new design, Adelan plans to jump onto a lower learning curve to accelerate the penetration of this technology. Adelan published the first description of a UK microtubular SOFC in 1994 and has been making steady progress in cost reduction and in commercialisation strategy. The project partner Conrad Anderson has manufacturing skills which will show how the product can be made economically. The third partner University of Birmingham is an expert organisation in fuel cells, in this case developing sealant and metal interconnect materials. The commercial objective is to manufacture the new design in large numbers by 2020.