Aluminum. It's recyclable,
easily stored, noncombustible, and it stores a lot of energy.
No wonder the aluminum
industry is interested in developing products that use
aluminum as a safe, dependable, nonpolluting source of power.
An aluminum-air battery is
high on the list for Alupower Canada Limited, Ontario and
Alupower Incorporated, New Jersey.
The companies are now
developing a mobile aluminum-air fuel cell for an
electrically-powered vehicle. 
A cell fuelled by aluminum
generates power through a simple electrochemical reaction
between the metal, placed in a saline or alkaline solution,
and oxygen from the air. Electricity is produced as the
aluminum oxidizes.
The cell
consists of aluminum plates, an air cathode, and an
electrolyte. To recharge the cell when the aluminum is
consumed, the plates are replaced and more electrolyte is
added. In a larger unit, the reaction product can be removed,
then recycled through the aluminum smelting process back to
metallic aluminum.
Alupower intends to develop
saline and alkaline batteries (also known as semi-fuel cells)
for a variety of uses. A major goal is to produce a compact,
mobile, high energy and high power density aluminum-air fuel
cell.
This kind of fuel cell - it
has a mass of only 300 kg - will extend the range of an
electric van from 75 km (on lead-acid batteries alone) to 300
km. There are many possible uses for it - from emergency
power supplies to power systems for boats and submarines and
as a source of electricity in remote areas.
Funding for the Alupower
program comes from the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Alcan
International Limited.
