Ballard Acquires Additional Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Intellectual Property Rights.VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 1999-- Ballard Power Systems Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD, NASDAQ: BLDP), located in Burnaby, British Columbia -- a suburb of Vancouver -- is a company that designs, develops, and manufactures zero emission proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :BLDP) (TSE:BLD.) announced today receipt of a worldwide, non-exclusive license to direct methanol fuel cell Direct-methanol fuel cells or DMFCs are a subcategory of proton-exchange fuel cells where, the fuel, methanol (CH3OH), is not reformed, but fed directly to the fuel cell. (DMFC) intellectual property from the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. (Caltech) and the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission (USC) through DTI Energy, Inc. which holds exclusive licensing rights to the intellectual property. The license is based on technology developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Caltech and the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute is on the campus of the University of Southern California. Nobel Laureate George A. Olah serves as Director and G.K. Surya Prakash serves as Scientific Co-Director and holds the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair of Chemistry. at USC. Ballard also acquired the right to sublicense the intellectual property to its alliance members under certain conditions. In a DMFC, methanol is fed directly into the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell as the fuel, rather than passing first through a fuel processor in which it is converted into a hydrogen-containing fuel stream. The resulting benefits are a less complex PEM fuel cell system and lower volume, lower weight and ultimately, lower cost. "Ballard's license of this DMFC intellectual property enhances our position in the DMFC area," said Kip Smith, President and Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Ballard. "This strategic move supports our position as the world leader in the development of next generation PEM fuel cell technology and is an important step toward consolidating our ongoing DMFC research and development." Ballard Power Systems is the world leader in developing, manufacturing and marketing zero-emission PEM fuel cells for use in transportation, electricity generation and portable products. Ballard Power Systems' proprietary fuel cell technology is enabling automobile, electrical equipment and portable power product manufacturers to develop environmentally clean products for sale. The fundamental component of these end-user products is the Ballard(R) fuel cell that combines hydrogen (which can be obtained from methanol, natural gas or petroleum) and oxygen (from air) without combustion to generate electricity. Ballard is partnering with strong, world-leading companies including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GPU International, ALSTOM and EBARA to commercialize Ballard fuel cells. Additional customers using Ballard fuel cells include General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Volvo, Yamaha, Matsushita Electric Works, and Cinergy. |
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