Amplats invests $4m in fuel cell venture

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has announced a $4m investment into United Hydrogen Group (UHG) as it looks to bolster the demand for platinum. UHG, an American hydrogen production and distribution business, will work with Amplats to reduce the delivered costs of hydrogen and support the development of hydrogen refuelling stations for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCVs) in the US, thus bolstering the demand for platinum, which is used in fuel cell vehicles. The hope is that together these companies can reduce the cost of ownership for FCVs, laying the foundation for mass adoption of this zero emissions technology. “We ultimately want to reduce the cost of delivered hydrogen and increase access to hydrogen refuelling stations. Our investment in UHG goes a long way to achieving both of these goals and supporting development of the FCEV market,” says Andrew Hinkly, Executive Head of Marketing at Amplats.

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum mining company Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) is investing $4-million to help reduce the cost of fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) ownership and lay the foundation for the mass adoption of zero-emission fuel cell technology.

The JSE-listed company said on Friday that the investment in United Hydrogen Group (UHG) of the US was aimed at lowering the delivered costs of hydrogen and supporting the development of hydrogen refuelling stations, which would bolster the demand for platinum used in FCEVs.

“We ultimately want to reduce the cost of delivered hydrogen and increase access to hydrogen refuelling stations. Our investment in UHG goes a long way to achieving both of these goals and supporting development of the FCEV market,” Amplats executive marketing head Andrew Hinkly said in a media release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.

The investment forms part of Amplats' PGM Investment Programme, which provides early-stage and growth capital to companies that can demonstrate the commercial viability of their products or for technologies that enable the consumption of platinum-group metals (PGMs).

UHG will work with Hydrogenious Technologies, a PGM Investment Programme partner, on delivered hydrogen logistics and costs.

A high-tech spinoff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, Hydrogenious Technologies has achieved a breakthrough in liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology, which gives hydrogen diesel-like characteristics that allow it to be transported, distributed and stored in existing infrastructure for oil-based fuels.

The technology binds the hydrogen molecules to LOHCs, which facilitate safe, easy-to-handle, high-density energy storage at ambient conditions, addressing the existing challenges associated with storing gaseous hydrogen.