Mantra Energy Alternatives Ltd., a subsidiary of Mantra Venture Group Ltd., says it is developing a prototype fuel cell for transportation applications that eliminates the use of a membrane – ‘one of the most costly and failure-prone components of a conventional fuel cell,’ the company remarks.
With Mantra's proprietary mixed-reactant fuel cell (MRFC) technology, a mixture of fuel and oxidant flows through the cell as a single stream. In a conventional fuel cell, the fuel and oxidant flow in separate streams, separated by an ion-conducting membrane.
Prof. Elod Gyenge and a team at the University of British Columbia have been working on MRFC concepts for six years and will now partner will Mantra to integrate the technology into transportation applications.
The company is aiming to produce a functional fuel-cell vehicle prototype later this year.
