Liquid Catalyst Fuel Cell Company Raises £3.3M in Venture Financing

3 December 2008

UK-based ACAL Energy Ltd. completed a £3.3-million (US$4.9 million) fundraising round. The funds will be used to take the company to the next stage of development of their fuel cell systems, based on a novel liquid cathode technology (FlowCath).

Led by CT Investment Partners LLP, all existing venture capital investors, Rising Stars Growth Fund (RSGF), NorthStar Equity Investors Ltd, Porton Capital Ltd and Synergis Technologies Ltd invested in the round and are joined by new investments from Solvay SA and a leading Japanese corporation.

FlowCath replaces more than 60% of total Pt catalysts found in conventional fuel cells with a proprietary low-cost liquid catalyst. This not only reduces the cost of the fuel cell but also provides significant durability and reliability benefits through system simplification and the elimination of the most common failure mechanisms found in standard fuel cells. The company plans to introduce a 1kW demonstration system in 2009.

As a cathode system the technology can be adapted to work with any fuel source including hydrogen, methanol, ethanol and sodium borohydride.