Smoltek Innovation AB is changed to Smoltek Hydrogen AB, as innovation projects become business area Hydrogen
This press release is an English version of the previously published Swedish version, which has interpretive precedence.
Smoltek Nanotech Holding AB ("Smoltek") announces that the group company Smoltek Innovation AB has changed its name to Smoltek Hydrogen AB. This is a logical next step when the innovation project around materials for electrolyzers and green hydrogen is now its own independent business area in Smoltek. However, the group's ambitious and long-term innovation strategy remains firm - to maintain a continuous flow of new business areas where the core technology should lead to radical innovations that solve critical material problems in new application areas.
Based on Smoltek's patent-protected nanofiber technology, a new cell material for PEM electrolyzers has been developed. It has the potential to greatly increase the amount of hydrogen produced per unit area, leading to up to three times smaller and thus cheaper electrolysers. Furthermore, we reduce the amount of iridium used when manufacturing an electrolyzer by at least 80%. This is a significant advantage because iridium is a critical catalyst material that currently costs roughly SEK 2 million per kilogram.
“The new company name Smoltek Hydrogen AB shows that we stand by the ambition to provide the new hydrogen economy with crucial technology. The market is growing incredibly fast, and the market for cell materials on the anode side of a PEM electrolyzer alone is expected to amount to SEK 50 billion in 2030*. In addition, the urgent shortage of natural gas has further increased the level of ambition in Europe. For us, it is important to quickly reach the goal of becoming an established player in this market,” says Ellinor Ehrnberg, President of Smoltek Hydrogen AB.
Paving the way for further new business areas within Smoltek
In August 2020, Smoltek launched the company's long-term innovation strategy that will take the patent-protected core technology in nanofibers to more areas than just the semiconductor industry. Smoltek Innovation AB was formed as a separate group company with the task of taking new technology-driven innovations from concept to products for the market. During the first six months, a handful of promising areas were identified, with one of them, high-performance cell materials for electrolyzers, selected to be the first concept to develop further.
Now two years later, this innovation project has developed into a complete business area, called Vätgas in Swedish and Hydrogen in English. It has its own staff, patents and cooperation agreements with external parties, which is why the company name is now changing from Smoltek Innovation AB to Smoltek Hydrogen AB. The next step in the business area is to start building prototypes together with potential customers and planning the first pilot plant for the production of cell material. This includes the milestones of building a complete PEM electrolyser cell on a laboratory scale during the winter, together with, among other things, a large manufacturer of materials for electrolysers. Measurements of the cell's performance will validate that Smoltek's new cell material makes it possible to reduce the size of the central part of a hydrogen plant – the electrolyzer – to up to a third compared to today's technology.
To continue creating value for shareholders, Smoltek will launch more business areas based on the company's core technology. Next in line are areas such as medical technology, next-generation batteries and supercapacitors, as Smoltek's unique technology around nanofibers is useful in a large number of other areas that remain to be explored.
“Smoltek's potential for new products, processes and out-licensing is extraordinary. Our core technology forms a platform that can generate radical innovations in industry after industry, where miniaturization and energy efficiency determine who wins in the technology race,” says Smoltek CTO Farzan Ghavanini.
* A more comprehensive account of this estimate is provided in the press release published by Smoltek on May 5, 2022.
For further information:
Håkan Persson, CEO of Smoltek Nanotech Holding AB,
E-mail: hakan.persson@smoltek.com
Phone: +46 760 52 00 53
Website: www.smoltek.com/investors
Smoltek develops process technology and concepts for applications based on carbon nanotechnology to solve advanced materials engineering problems in several industrial sectors. The company protects its unique technology through an extensive and expanding patent portfolio consisting of around 100 applied for patents, of which today 76 have been granted. Smoltek's share is listed on the Spotlight Stock Market in Stockholm, Sweden under the ticker SMOL. Smoltek is a development company, and forward-looking statements regarding time to market, production volume and price levels should be interpreted as forecasts and not commitments.