• What is a fuel cell?

    Basically, a fuel cell is a high efficient device that generates Direct Current electricity from a hydrogen rich gas through an electrochemical reaction. If you go to our Fuel Cell Fundamentals section you will find a fact sheet with further information about your question.

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  • What is a fuel cell made from?

    CFCL use an optimised blend of materials specially designed for different parts of the fuel cells. These comprise of: Electrolyte - Yttria doped Zirconia (YSZ), Cathode - complex oxides including Lanthanum-Strontium-Manganese-oxide and for the Anode - Nickel-Zirconia (YSZ)-cermet.  For more information on the construction of a fuel cell visit our Info Centre.

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  • What fuels can your fuel cells operate on?

    Right now, we have designed our solid oxide fuel cell system to use natural gas.  It is also possible to re-design the fuel cell system to use other fuel sources such as hydrogen, LPG, bio-gas, coal gas, ethanol, methane and other hydrocarbon fuels.

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  • Can I buy a unit?

    We are in the middle of the product development stage and we are only producing highly sophisticated ‘pre-commercial' and prototype units for testing and development.  This means that the costs per unit are significantly higher than traditional mass-produced generators/boilers.  We are building a large scale manufacturing plant in Germany, to scale up production and significantly reduce unit costs.   The factory is on-track for completion in June 2009.  However at the moment we do not have any units available for sale to ‘consumers'.

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  • Can I get a demonstration unit?

    We are focused on developing a 1-2kW micro-combined Heat & Power (CHP) unit as our first product to 'go to market', initially targeting Europe.  From 2006-2007 we deployed demonstration CHP units in field trials in Australia, New Zealand and Germany.  We have now shipped 'Net~Gen' pre-commercial units to our development partners, to develop fully integrated CHP units.  Our strategy is to work with a select group of appliance companies who would manufacture the units in volume, so at the moment we do not sell demonstration units to the public. 

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  • When will you commercialise?

    Our strategy is to work with appliance companies who would manufacture end user products in volume. Naturally we're working hard to bring this forward as much as we can.   We are building a large scale manufacturing plant in Germany, which is on track for completion in June 2009.  This factory will supply our fuel cell modules to our appliance partners, for integration into commercial CHP products.  In the meantime we will continue to make fuel cell modules and systems at our pilot production facility in Melbourne, Australia. 

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  • Do you plan to manufacture in volume?

    Yes, we do plan to manufacture in volume, from a plant in Heinsberg, Germany, which we began building in February 2008.  The plant is on track for completion in June 2009.  The initial capacity of the plant will be 10,000 units per year, at a total project cost of €12.4 million.  The building has the capacity for later expansion up to 160,000 units per year.  The plant is being built at an industry park in Heinsberg, Germany (about 40 minutes drive from Dusseldorf), which is owned and operated by CFCL’s partner Nuon. 

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  • Can I subscribe to get current information sent to me?

    If you'd like to be kept up to date with what we're doing you're welcome to visit our Announcements section and 'subscribe' to receive our announcements by email (You don't need to be an investor to join.)

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  • Which stock exchange is Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd listed on?

    We are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under CFU.  We are also listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market also under the code CFU.  Visit www.asx.com.au or www.londonstockexchange.com for more information.

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  • Who are your customers and partners?

    CFCL has signed product development agreements with leading European utility customers and appliance partners in Europe and Japan to deploy micro-CHP units using CFCL's SOFC technology.  These agreements are a significant achievement for the Company, validating the Company's commercialisation strategy and allowing the Company to move from field trials into product development, deployment and sales.  CFCL has customers and partners in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Holland and Japan.  More details about our partners is available under our 'Partners' section.

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