advanced energy
Grant to boost fuel cell creation
Third Frontier awards $1 million to UltraCell Corp.'s Dayton operation to increase production.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
DAYTON — Ohio's Third Frontier Commission awarded UltraCell Corp.'s Dayton operation $1 million to ramp up production of fuel cells and bring in more workers.
The grant will help secure the company's 13 jobs on Dayton International Airport property and pave the way for a total of 25 to 30 jobs there by the end of 2008, said Frank Beafore, UltraCell vice president, operations.
Extras
"We are very delighted," Beafore said Tuesday, March 25. "It was absolutely a vote of confidence."
The grant will be used to refine four steps in the production of methanol fuel cells, which can be used to power laptop computers and other devices. Project partners with UltraCell include the company's Livermore, Calif., operation, the University of Dayton Research Institute, Mound Technologies, Invotec and others, Beafore said.
The grant is a step toward making the company's Dayton location a "high-volume production operation," Beafore said.
The project goal is to take production of fuel cells from 800 units a month to more than 3,000 units a month, the state Department of Development said.
Two other Dayton-area companies also won grants from the commission aimed at promoting the advanced energy industry.
Applied Sciences Inc. of Cedarville in Greene County was awarded $999,999 for its development of specialty carbons for energy storage. The company is developing and demonstrating a commercially feasible, advanced electrode material for lithium ion batteries with increased energy and power densities, a press release said.
Inorganic Specialists Inc. of Miamisburg in Montgomery County was awarded $250,000 for its project to manufacture the next generation lithium ion anode.
The Miamisburg company has developed a carbon nanofiber paper that can be used in various applications, including lightweight composites, the release said. The project will optimize a CNF paper for use in an anode material in lithium ion batteries. The anode material has shown the potential of increasing battery storage capacity four times, said the release.
Altogether, the commission awarded more than $12 million in grants to 17 entities aimed at helping the advanced energy industry in Ohio.
