/ 18 February 2011

R&D for meaningful community upliftment

R&d For Meaningful Community Upliftment

The South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry (SAIAMC) has its roots firmly in the communities served by the University of the Western Cape.

Director of SAIAMC, Professor Vladimir Linkov, says “SAIAMC will gradually strengthen its activities aimed at the development of new knowledge-based products and services, which will ultimately result in advancement of a local manufacturing base, with strong emphasis on black owned SMMEs,” Linkov says.

“Through this activity SAIAMC has significant potential in facilitating groundbreaking events in, among others, nascent fields of alternative energy generation and nanotechnology in South Africa. If carried out in a clear and unambiguous way, this activity can also result in significant income generation which can be used to further develop UWC as a leading human resource, knowledge and technology development institutions in South Africa.”

The work at SAIAMC is underpinned by a key national strategy of developing a critical mass of disadvantaged people in order to meet the skills base needed to drive the knowledge economy. Furthermore, they are focused on the development of commercially viable products, which are both sophisticated and low in cost, accessible and yet have the potential to be extensively patented.

SAIAMC has been able to form strategic partnerships with a number of industry and other partners, such as ESKOM and PetroSA. The work at SAIAMC is highly significant in the South African context in that they are working on finding accessible and affordable ways to harness natural resources to ensure protection of the environment.

Currently SAIAMC is investigating various purification, extraction and conversion technologies largely focusing on the conditioning of Underground Coal Gasification product gas. Since 2008 the Institute received significant project funding towards the development of specific hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and systems.

These R&D activities are co-ordinated in HySA Systems, a Department of Science and Technology (DST) Center of Competence on Technology Validation and Systems Integration for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies, hosted by SAIAMC. The main objective for the HySA Systems projects is to develop and optimise new advanced materials, and customise these into hydrogen and fuel cell components and systems.

New innovative methods of manufacturing membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for high temperature proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks on an industrial scale are currently being developed. In parallel to this, new fuel cell stack designs are being investigated. If this R&D proves to be successful, Linkov says, South Africa will be in an excellent position to produce both MEAs and fuel cell stacks for export in the near to medium-term.

HySA Systems is currently testing 1 kW high temperature PEM fuel cell stacks. The construction of an experimental test rig with a 2 kW stack, designed to test various combined heat and power (CHP) system configurations, will be completed in June 2011.

The 2 kW CHP system level test rig will make it possible to validate key MEA technology under realistic operation conditions, ensuring that the technology developed is application and market relevant. Within HySA Systems, the Institute’s knowledge in the area of metal hydrides is being applied in various hydrogen storage projects, both for stationary and mobile applications.

One of the most promising applications of metal hydrides is hydrogen storage for fuel cell driven forklift trucks, which is a new and promising niche market for fuel cells. HySA Systems recently completed the demonstration prototype of a hydrogen driven fuel cell tricycle together with Tshwane University of Technology.

In this project several innovations in the design of novel and proprietary metal hydride tanks were made. These innovations are expected to be carried forward in the development of larger metal hydride storage tanks for forklift trucks.

The construction of a stationary fuel cell vehicle (FCV) and electric vehicle (EV) emulator and testing station, designed to test hybrid battery and fuel cell configurations, will be completed by August 2011. The 15 kW FCV system testing station will make it possible to test a wide range of batteries, fuel cells, and hybrid configurations under realistic operating conditions.

A first prototype manufacturing line for the production of lithium-ion batteries has been constructed, to develop lithium-ion batteries specifically designed for electric and fuel cell vehicles.

A stationary fuel cell vehicle testing station will be installed the new SAIAMC Innovation Center building at UWC in 2011. This equipment will be designed to test novel hybrid fuel cells, batteries, super capacitors and their configurations for future electrical vehicles.