Fuel Cell Technology

Kolon Industries has acquired the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) technology from US-based W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc.
Kolon Industries has acquired the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) technology from US-based W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc.

 

Kolon Industries, the chemical and textile unit of the Kolon Group, announced on November 7 that it has acquired the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) technology from U.S.-based W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc.

The MEA is the core component of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell that is used in hydrogen powered electric cars. It helps produce the electrochemical reaction in a hydrogen fuel cell.

Kolon Industries expects that the competitive MEA for a hydrogen fuel cell would be commercialized in the near future when combining Gore’s MEA manufacturing technology based on its original membrane technology and Kolon’s mass production technology.

Shin Yong-cheol, director who generalizes the MEA business at Kolon Industries, said, “We are planning to expand our business areas to MEAs for transportation, building and power plant through the expansion of the new MEA manufacturing technology. We will dominate the market of MEAs for hydrogen fuel cell in advance and prepare for the market expansion in the future.”

Kolon Industries has considered hydrogen fuel cell materials as its new growth engine and worked at the subject since 2006. In 2013, the company, in cooperation with a domestic automaker, succeeded in commercializing the water control system for hydrogen fuel cells, the core component of fuel cell electric vehicles, for the first time in the world. It recently bought the MEA research facilities and core patents from Samsung SDI in order to strengthen the ability of the MEA business, focusing on securing necessary technologies at home and abroad. 

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