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| October 7, 2002 |
| Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. |
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| Gas diffusion layer developed for
Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells |
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| Mitsubishi Rayon will set up a commercial
production line within the Toyohashi Production Center with
the aim of producing gas diffusion layers (GDLs) used in proton
exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFC). |
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GDLs are key components of
electrodes in fuel cells, required not only gas permeability
and electrical conductivity as the physical properties, but
also ease of handling and cost reduction in mass production
of PEMFC. The PYROFILTM GDL that has been developed
by Mitsubishi Rayon is of the rolled carbon paper format, utilized
advanced technologies of our core acrylic fiber manufacturing
and carbon fiber manufacturing to improve the flexibility of
carbon paper, and enable mass production by making the manufacturing
process continuous.
We recently examined the manufacturing technology and conducted
pre-marketing for the production of 30 cm-wide continuous rolls of GDL at the
Corporate Research Laboratories (Otake City, Hiroshima Prefecture). We have received
a large number of inquiries from domestic and overseas fuel cell and membrane
electrode assembly (MEA) manufacturers, and on the basis of our forecast that
the fuel cell market will be fully developed in 2004, we decided to establish
a mass production line within the Toyohashi Production Center.
The new line will enable the production of GDL up to 80 cm
width. We have a target production capacity of 250,000 square meter annually,
and plan to increase our capacity to meet future demand. We are planning to make
our first shipments from the new line in January 2003.
In 1998, Mitsubishi Rayon invested in Dynetek Industries Ltd.,
a Canadian manufacturer of high-pressure containers, and began supplying them
with carbon fiber. Dynetek manufactures compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks and
hydrogen tanks for vehicles powered by fuel cells. As our development of the
gas diffusion layer is timely, we are able to make a direct offer of a key component
to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell market, and we expect to expand our
business due to these synergistic effects. As part of a project to find broader
industrial uses for carbon fiber, we are developing new markets for carbon fiber
in the fields of energy and environmental production.
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Rolled gas diffusion
layer for fuel cell
reference
materials: |
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Dynetek Industries Profile
1. Company
name: Dynetek Industries Ltd.
2. President:
Robb Thompson
3. Head
Office: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4. Establishment:
1990
5. Paid-in
capital: CA$50.25 million
6. Equity
stake: Mitsubishi Rayon - 7.5% (Capital participation
in June 1998)
7. Business
lines: Light-pressure gas tank manufacture and sales
8. Sales:
CA$8,013 thousand (term ended December 2001)
9. Employees:
68 |
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| For further informaiton,please contact
to: |
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| Public & Investor Relations Office:tel
+81-3-5495-3100 |
e-mail : koho@mrc.co.jp |
| Carbon Fiber & ACM Division |
e-mail : gdlinfo@mrc.co.jp |
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The contents shown herein are accurate as of the time of posting.
