JSR Completes Construction of Mass-Production Plant for Producing Hydrocarbon Electrolyte Membranes

JSR has completed the construction of a mass-production plant for producing hydrocarbon electrolytic membranes for fuel cells at its factory site of Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture. The production capability of the plant is equivalent to the number of the hydrocarbon electrolytic membranes used by ten thousands to twenty thousands of motor vehicles per year. JSR has already operated the semi-commercial plant for producing the electrolyte membranes.
The mass-production plant has been constructed to meet the full-scale expansion of demand. The electrolyte membranes of JSR have been used for the fuel cell vehicles by an automobile manufacturer in Japan.
The company is scheduled to develop and manufacture hydrocarbon electrolyte membranes for stationary fuel cell systems such as residential fuel cell systems and mobile direct methanol fuel cells.
JSR’s Hydrocarbon Electrolyte Membrane
The JSR’s hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is designed to have a concentration of ion-exchanging groups which is higher than that of the conventional electrolyte membrane. The result is an excellent proton conductivity. The hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is designed by fully utilizing the features of the aromatic hydrocarbon structure allowing a high freedom of design.
The results are: high endurance, excellent gas shut-off property, and excellent high- and low-temperature characteristics. Further, the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is environment friendly. The hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane, unlike the conventional fluorine electrolyte membrane, is free from fluorine compounds, which are produced in the catalyst recovery process and waste disposal. JSR is developing a new electrolyte membrane, which has long-time stable power generation performance, and is durable against load variations as in the start and stop operations.
Electrolyte Membrane for Vehicle Fuel cells
JSR is developing a new hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane in cooperation with an automobile manufacturer in Japan. In the fuel cell system using the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane developed by us, high temperature operation, and low temperature start-up have successfully been realized. The power generation temperature region is considerably increased (-30 to 95 degrees of centigrade). It is noted that the JSR’s electrolyte membranes have been used by the vehicle fuel cells where the electrolyte membranes are inevitably placed in extremely harsh conditions. JSR is making efforts to further improvement of the endurance.
Electrolyte Membrane for Stationary Fuel Cell Systems
A hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for use with residential fuel cell systems has been developed. The development has been made with efforts to make the most of advantageous features of the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for automobiles, including good durability, high temperature being usable, good recycability in the catalyst recovery stage.
Electrolyte Membrane for Mobile DMFC
JSR has developed a hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for DMFC applications．
The balance between the output characteristic and the methanol permeability has been significantly improved. In the previous electrolyte membrane and electrode electrolyte (binder for fixing the catalyst layer), when methanol of high concentration is used in order to increase the output power of the DMFC, the methanol crossover inevitably occurs and the electrode electrolyte inevitably dissolves, leading to degradation of the power generation capability of the fuel cell. The electrolyte membrane developed and offered by JSR enables a designer to use high concentration methanol and to increase the output power of the fuel cell.
* This article is excerpted from JSR's press release.
Keywords: hydrocarbon electrolyte membranes, mass-production plant, uel cell vehicles, high ion-exchanging group concentration, aromatic hydrocarbon structure, high endurance, gas shut-off property, high- and low-temperature characteristics