Re: UK Ceramic Powder Plant

29 Oct 2007 07:00

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited29 October 2007 29 October 2007 Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited Completes Commissioning of UK Ceramic Powder Plant Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited ("CFCL"), a leading developer of solid oxide fuelcells for micro-combined heat and power units (m-CHP), today announces that ithas completed the commissioning of its high quality ceramic powder plant inBromborough, Merseyside, UK. The plant has successfully produced yttriastabilised zirconia (YSZ), a highly engineered ceramic powder required inprecise formulations and quantities for the manufacture of many types of solidoxide fuel cell. The powder's physical properties and consistency, including chemical purity,particle size, size distribution and surface area, determine many of the fuelcells' fundamental operating attributes and the overall performance of the fuelcell stack, including power density, electrical generating efficiency, thermalmechanical properties, geometric tolerances and stack operating life. Advanced ceramic materials such as zirconia have a broad range of current andpotential applications. They represent an enabling technology for a host of newhigh-technology applications in the multi billion dollar advanced ceramicsmarket, from modern microelectronics to superconductors and nanotechnology. In order to meet the rigorous performance specifications for its cells and toreduce powder variation, CFCL has developed its own powder process. It includesa new chemical process and a patented reactor that allows the Company to controlthe characteristics of the powder at a molecular level, to create a very highquality product. In 2006, the Company built a one tonne demonstration-scale plant of itsproprietary YSZ production process at its Melbourne facility where itdemonstrated that it could successfully engineer powders to deliver productflexibility and eliminate batch-to-batch variability. The new pilot plant at Bromborough has a current nominal capacity of 20 tonnesper annum. CFCL will use the powder produced at Bromborough to make its own fuelcells, and will look at upgrading the pilot plant to a commercial operation tomake advanced powders for other applications. As CFCL gears up forcommercialisation, the Company will also look to increase the capacity of theplant, to drive further cost savings and revenue opportunities. Brendan Dow, Managing Director of Ceramic Fuel Cells said: "The completion of our powder plant represents a significant milestone for CFCL.We have taken a technology from the laboratory to a demonstration plant and thenscaled it up to the 20 tonne pilot plant we now have in the UK. We havecompleted the process, which ranged from finding a suitable location, to design,build and installation through to commissioning, all in just over a year. Thisproject indicates CFCL's ability to transfer technology from lab bench tocommercial scale to deliver cost and performance advantages." For further information please contact: Ceramic Fuel Cells Tel: +61 419 950 771Andrew Neilson Email: investor@cfcl.com.au Libertas Capital Tel: +44 (0) 20 7569 9650Aamir Quraishi / Andrew Hardy Hogarth Partnership, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7357 9477Sarah MacLeod / Sarah Richardson / Vicky Watkins About CFCL Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited is a leader in developing solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) technology which can provide reliable, energy efficient, high-quality,and low-emission electricity from widely available natural gas and renewablefuels. CFCL is developing SOFC products for small-scale on-site micro combinedheat and power (m-CHP) and distributed generation units that co-generateelectricity and heat for domestic use. CFCL is listed on the London StockExchange AIM market and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU). www.cfcl.com.au This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange