General Motors, two other companies join USC fuel-cell center team

General Motors Corp., Finnchem USA and Scribners Associates Inc. have become the latest members of the University of South Carolina's NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells.

USC, a national leader in fuel-cell research, houses the nation's only NSF-sponsored Center for Fuel Cells.

"Our role is to assist industry in moving toward the commercialization of fuel-cell technology and in training well-qualified engineers and scientists," said Dr. John Van Zee, director of the center. "USC has a strong, well-established faculty and research facilities in electrochemical technology, catalysis and hydrogen storage suitable for fuel-cell development."

Fuel cells may be important not just for vehicles, power tools or laptop computers but also because of spin-off technologies yet to be developed.

For the past five years, faculty in USC's department of chemical engineering have conducted more than $6 million in research for the U.S. Department of Energy and industrial partners to improve fuel-cell components and systems. Recently, Dr. Branko Popov was awarded $1.7 million by the DOE to organize research to study alternatives for platinum metal catalysis.

Other center partners include CD adapco Group, BASF AG, Bulk Molding Compounds Inc., DANA Corp., Eastman Chemical Co., Entegris Inc., John Deere ePower Technologies, Plug Power Inc., Westinghouse Savannah River Co. LLC, Showa Denko Carbon Sales Inc. and W.L. Gore & Associates Inc.

The center will be an exhibitor at the 2003 Fuel Cell Symposium in Miami Beach, Fla., November 3 - 6.