New Energy And Industrial Technology Development Organization Project Research Articles

FC-Platform Activities and Post Analysis of Durability Tested MEA

FC-Platform, specialized in PEFC's analysis and evaluation, has been launched as a NEDO's funded project. FC-Platform consists of 5 groups of the electrochemical evaluation, simulation, materials analysis, materials informatics and management, involves several institutions. The numbers of various materials research themes have been also running in the NEDO's project. FC-Platform provides better directions of improving for these materials research through analysis and evaluation of their materilas. Moreover, Materials informatics (MI) have been applyed to the development of thier matrials in several themes. Visualizing and predicting phenomena in the PEFCs are essential for realizing high performance and durability at a material level. Therefore, we are focusing on advanced visualization techniques and trans-scale stack modeling development. We also had post analysis and evaluation of the MEAs under long term road-cycle test.This work was supported by a NEDO FC-Platform project commissioned by th e New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Degradation Analysis of SOFC Performance for Long-Term Operation with High Fuel Utilization (2)

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a power generation technology with its high efficiency and low environmental impact, and the most important issue for SOFC for practical use is to improve reliability as well as high efficiency. A national project on SOFC development in Japan, “Development of advanced evaluation and analysis technologies for the durability of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells stacks (2020-),” has been initiated as a NEDO project in order to clarify their long-term durability and find dominant degradation factor for each SOFC stacks. Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) has operated three kinds of different SOFC cell/stacks (flat-tubular and two kinds of planer) for durability under NEDO’s project, which have been developed by KYOCERA, MORIMURA SOFC Technology, and DENSO.Long-term durability tests of 20,000 hours have been conducted under high fuel utilization of 80% and 85%, which is close to the operating limit of each SOFC cell/stack for high efficiency, to evaluate the effects on the performance and degradation behavior of the cell/stack. In previous projects, we have developed an electrode polarization model that can accurately represent SOFC performance, including cell voltage and each overvoltage, under a variety of conditions. The degradation factors for durability of each SOFC cell/stack have been analyzed by using this model. The analysis revealed that the dominant degradation factors were increased cathode overvoltage and IR loss, similar to the SOFC cell/stacks that were modified from the previous project to improve their long-term durability. On the other hand, the degradation rate of cell voltage was higher at 85% than at 80% fuel utilization in one cell/stack, and the performance degradation factor analysis revealed that this difference was due to an increase in anode overvoltage at 85% than at 80% fuel utilization, where anode overvoltage was not the primary degradation factor.This work has been carried out under the projects (JPNP13001 and JPNP20003) of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan as contract research. We would like to express our gratitude to NEDO, many SOFC developers, as well as to university partners and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

(Invited) FC-Platform and Gen2 Mirai Analysis

FC-Platform, specialized in PEFC's analysis and evaluation, has been launched as a NEDO's funded project. PF-Platform consists of 5 groups of the electrochemical evaluation, simulation, materials analysis, materials informatics and management, involves 21 institutions. An number of various materials research themes are also running in the NEDO's project. FC-Platform provides better direction of improving for these materials research by analysis and evaluation. Moreover, visualizing and predicting phenomena in the PEFCs are important for realizing high performance and durability at a material level. Therefore, we are focusing on advanced visualization techniques and multi-scale stack modeling development. We conducted analysis and evaluation of Gen2 MIRAI's MEAs and its materials employing developed analytics and modeling in this framework.This work was supported by a NEDO FC-Platform project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Toyota Motor Corporation supported for providing MIRAI's MEAs and materials.

Transition Analysis of Budgetary Allocation for Projects on Hydrogen-Related Technologies in Japan

Hydrogen technologies are promising candidates of new energy technologies for electric power load smoothing. However, regardless of long-term public investment, hydrogen economy has not been realized. In Japan, the National Research and Development Institute of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a public research-funding agency, has invested more than 200 billion yen in the technical development of hydrogen-related technologies. However, hydrogen technologies such as fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have not been disseminated yet. Continuous and strategic research and development (R&D) are needed, but there is a lack of expertise in this field. In this study, the transition of the budgetary allocations by NEDO were analyzed by classifying NEDO projects along the hydrogen supply chain and research stage. We found a different R&D focus in different periods. From 2004 to 2007, empirical research on fuel cells increased with the majority of research focusing on standardization. From 2008 to 2011, investment in basic research of fuel cells increased again, the research for verification of fuel cells continued, and no allocation for research on hydrogen production was confirmed. Thereafter, the investment trend did not change until around 2013, when practical application of household fuel cells (ENE-FARM) started selling in 2009, in terms of hydrogen supply chain. Hydrogen economy requires a different hydrogen supply infrastructure, that is, an existing infrastructure of city gas for ENE-FARM and a dedicated infrastructure for FCVs (e.g., hydrogen stations). We discussed the possibility that structural inertia could prevent the transition to investing more in hydrogen infrastructure from hydrogen utilization technology. This work has significant implications for designing national research projects to realize hydrogen economy.

NEDO projects demo SOFCs, hybrid energy storage in Japan

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in Japan is supporting a number of projects to develop market-ready solid oxide fuel cell systems for power generation applications, and novel approaches to energy storage at water purification plants.

Development of Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Oxide Electrocatalysts for PEFCs

With their efficiency, high power density, and low/zero emissions, polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are recognized as promising energy converting system. However, high cost and insufficient durability currently hinder their commercialization. Especially, one of the major barriers is the high cost and low stability of platinum (Pt)-based catalysts 1). Thus, developing alternative catalysts with low cost and high stability has been strongly required for the commercialization of PEFCs. In the effort to reduce the cost of PEFCs, we have been developing nitrogen doped titanium oxide (N- TiO2) as a non-noble metal electrocatalyst in NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Japan) project. In this paper, we introduce a new and convenient synthesis method of N-doped TiO2electrocatalysts and their catalytic activities for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this study, we used phthalocyanine (Pc) as nitrogen source in order to dope nitrogen into TiO2. For the high surface area of electrocatalyst, TiO2 nanoparticles were deposited on high surface area carbon supports (C). The carbon supported TiO2 (TiO2/C) and phthalocyanine (Pc) were mixed and heat-treated at 900oC in inert gas atmosphere containing a small amount of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) in order to finally obtain N-TiO2/C electrocatalysts. TiO2 nanoparticles of ca. 20 nm size deposited on the carbon supports were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM), indicating that the synthesized N-TiO2/C may have considerably high surface areas. In X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, it was found that the XPS core-level peaks of Ti was very similar to that of Ti-N binding energy and the XRD peak of TiO2 shifted to higher angles, respectively. These results well explain that the nitrogen was successfully doped into TiO2 nanoparticles by our synthesis process. Fig. 1 compares the ORR catalytic activities of the synthesized N-TiO2/C and TiO2/C. The synthesized N-TiO2/C electrocatalyst shows significantly higher ORR catalytic activity than that of TiO2/C. It is believed that the enhanced catalytic activity of N-TiO2/C is due to the doping effect of nitrogen into TiO2. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) for financial support. References Ken-ichiro Ota, Yoshiro Ohgi, Kyung-Don Nam, Koichi Matsuzawa, Shigenori Mitsushima, Akimitsu Ishihara, J. Power. Sources., 196, 5256, ( 2011). Figure 1

Toward Beyond-Volcano-Top Performance in Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Pt from First-Principles and Kinetic Calculations

While first-principles investigations are suitable for exploring oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), they are not straightforward in estimating the final performance of a fuel cell. We are interested in how the important properties of ORR can be extracted and bridged to fuel cell performance. We have calculated the redox potentials and activation energies of the elementary electrochemical reactions of ORR, and evaluated the cyclic and linear sweep volatmograms from rate and diffusion equations. Our results demonstrate how ORR properties affect fuel cell performance and indicate a future direction for fuel cell investigations. The adsorption energy of the intermediates must not only be tuned (a point already made by many researchers from what is referred to as the volcano plot), but the activation energy of the elementary reactions must also be decreased to obtain much higher fuel cell performance beyond the volcano top performance. We took first-principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) to simulate two elementary steps of the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction on Pt(111); O(ad) + H+ + e−--> OH(ad) and OH(ad) + H+ + e−--> H2O In order to control the electrode potential, i.e. Fermi energy, we used constant-µ scheme [1] of the effective screening medium (ESM) method [2]. The redox potentials of these reactions were determined by changing the OH(ad) and O(ad) coverages. The activation energies of the reactions were determined using the blue-moon ensemble (bond constrained) method [3]. Using the parameters obtained, cyclic and linear sweep voltammograms were obtained. We found that it is necessary not only to tune the adsorption energy of the intermediates, O(ad) and OH(ad), which are the origin of the so-called volcano plot, but also to reduce the activation energy of the second elementary step. FPMD calculations were performed with “STATE” code [4], which uses density functional theory for electronic structure calculation with plane wave basis, ultrasoft pseudo potentials, and the GGA-PBE correlation functional. A unit cell of 8.38Å×9.67Å×26.04Å in size was established under the periodic boundary conditions, consisting of a slab of three layers of the Pt(111) plane, each containing 12 Pt atoms and about 32 water molecules on it. The details of the calculations are given elsewhere [5]. Computations were performed using the supercomputers at HPCC in Hokkaido University, IMR in Tohoku University, and ITC in the University of Tokyo. This work was partly supported by the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) projects. [1] N. Bonnet, T. Morishita, O. Sugino, and M. Otani, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2012, 109, 266101. [2] M. Otani and O. Sugino, Phys. Rev. B 2006, 73, 115407. [3] M. Sprik and G. Ciccotti, J. Chem. Phys. 1998109, 7737. [4] Y. Morikawa, K. Iwata, and K. Terakura, Appl. Surf. Sci. 2000. 169-170, 11. [5] O. Sugino, I. Hamada, M. Otani, Y. Morikawa, T. Ikeshoji, and Y. Okamoto, Surf. Sci. 2007, 601, 5237; M. Otani, I. Hamada, O. Sugino, Y. Morikawa, Y. Okamoto, and T. Ikeshoji, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 2008 77, 024802; T. Ikeshoji, M. Otani, I. Hamada, O. Sugino, Y. Morikawa, Y. Okamoto, Y. Qian, and I. Yagi, AIP Adv. 2012, 2, 032182.

Development of Highly-Reliable Hydrocarbon-Based Membrane for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Toray had been developing highly-reliable hydrocarbon-based (HC) membrane for PEFC in NEDO FY2013-2014 Next Generation Project. Newly-developed HC membrane using newly-developed organic peroxide decomposition catalysts showed higher cell performance under high temperature and low humidity condition, and more than 5.2 times higher chemical durability, in comparison with the reinforced PFSA membrane NafionHPas a reference membrane. Consequently, newly-developed HCmembrane accomplished the FY2014 target of NEDO Project on both cell performance and chemical/mechanical durability. Acknowledgement: This work was partially supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.

Japan's Pivot to Resilience: How Two Microgrids Fared After the 2011 Earthquake

Japan was an early leader in microgrid research, with the four demonstrations funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) between 2003 and 2008 being particularly influential. In addition, there have been several notable private sector projects, as well as some remote island, dc power, and sustainable community demonstrations. Objectives for the four NEDO projects were primarily to demonstrate the high penetration of local small-scale renewables,local control of diverse resources, islanding, reliability, and heterogeneous power quality (HeQ).

Study on Protocols for Evaluating Durability of PEFC Electrolyte Membranes

Introduction Under the NEDO Project called Cell Evaluation Project, Daido University(DU) decided the evaluation protocol of membrane chemical and mechanical durability based on the protocol recommended by FCCJ and DOE. Table1 and Table 2 shows the OCV and Dry-wet cycle test protocols were decided by DU. Using these protocols, chemical durability and mechanical durability of fluorine based and hydrocarbon membranes from all over the world have been evaluated with single cells.Regarding to OCV test protocol, the criterion of this test is set which quantity of cross leak current reached at 10 times of the initial current. As the OCV test is going, chemical degradation of membranes are caused by hydrogen peroxide is produced, and then membranes are gradually broken and finally hydrogen leak current larger increase.Recently, the protocol that combined a OCV test and a Dry-wet cycle test has been suggested by ENE-FORM companies to evaluate and accelerate membranes chemical and mechanical durability of membranes.In this study, to clarify the degree of the chemical degradation of hydrocarbon-based membranes in the OCV test, DU examine a newly protocol of evaluating for membrane’s chemical durability by OCV test with the new diagnosis method to use dry-wet cycle test. Experimental Table3 shows DU newly protocol for membrane chemical durability based on the protocol recommended by ENE-FORM companies. As seen this table, OCV tests with diagnosis method of membrane’s chemical durability were conducted on single cells with Nafion HP membrane and hydrocarbon-based membranes. Dry-wet cycle test was conducted for diagnosis method to evaluate degree of membrane chemical durability. Acknowledgement This research was performed under a grant from the Cell Evaluation Project from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) .

Study on Protocols for Evaluating Chemical Durability of Pemfc's Electorolyte Membranes

Introduction The Fuel Cell Commercialization Conference of Japan (FCCJ), which includes Japanese automobile and ENE-FORM companies, proposed a steady state OCV test and a dry-wet cycle test as the protocols for evaluating the respective chemical and mechanical durability of low-temperature PEFC electrolyte membranes.Under the NEDO Project called Cell Evaluation Project, Daido University(DU) decided the evaluation protocol of membrane chemical and mechanical durability based on the protocol recommended by FCCJ and DOE. Table1 and Table 2 shows the OCV and Dry-wet cycle test protocols were decided by DU. Using these protocols, chemical durability and mechanical durability of fluorine based and hydrocarbon membranes from all over the world have been evaluated with single cells.Regarding to OCV test protocol, the criterion of this test is set which quantity of cross leak current reached at 10 times of the initial current. As the OCV test is going, chemical degradation of membranes are caused by hydrogen peroxide is produced, and then membranes are gradually broken and finally hydrogen leak current larger increase.The results that the OCV tests were conducted on the shingle cells with those membranes shows the trends that most of fluorine-based membrane were gradually broken and hydrogen leak current increase by OCV tests. But most of hydrocarbon-based membranes were not broken and its hydrogen leak current were not increase, in spite of cell voltages were dropped and cell internal resistance were increase. By the criterion of this OCV test which the hydrogen leak current reached at 10 times of initial current, the most of hydrocarbon-based membranes were reached the target, but it is not to clarify whether the membrane’s chemical degradation were occurred in OCV tests or not. Most of fluorine-based and hydrocarbon-based membranes have a characteristic which membranes were caused chemical degradation become fragile mechanically. Recently, using such a characteristic, the protocol that combined a OCV test and a Dry-wet cycle test has been suggested by ENE-FORM companies to evaluate and accelerate membranes chemical and mechanical durability of membranes.In this study, to clarify the degree of the chemical degradation of hydrocarbon-based membranes in the OCV test, DU examine a newly protocol of evaluating for membrane’s chemical durability by OCV test with the new diagnosis method to use dry-wet cycle test.Table1 DU(NEDO)protocol for membrane mechanical durabilityOperation conditonPressureAmbientCell temperature80 °CGasAirFlow rate2 L/minR.H.Between 0%(Dry) & 150%(90°C)Period of R.H.4min(Dry:2min ⇔Wet:2min)Number of testN=2CriterionCrossover (Leak current)10 times of initial currentTarget201510,000 cyclesFinal20,000 cycles Table2 DU(NEDO) protocol for membrane chemical durability Cell configurationCell size15cm2 (3cm×5cm)Cell holderWith gas channelWidth of gas channel / rib1mm / 1mmFlow fieldStraight folwGas flow directionCo-flowOperation conditionNumber of testN=2Cell temperature90°CPressureAmbientGasH2 / AirFlow rate5% at 0.2 A/cm2 R.H. (Humidifying)30% (61°C)DiagnosisFrequency of LSVEvery 50 hr or 100 hrCriterionCrossover(Leak current)10times of initialDurable target500 hour Experimental Table3 shows DU newly protocol for membrane chemical durability based on the protocol recommended by ENE-FORM companies. As seen this table, OCV tests with diagnosis method of membrane’s chemical durability were conducted on single cells with Nafion HP membrane and hydrocarbon-based membranes. Dry-wet cycle test was conducted for diagnosis method to evaluate degree of membrane chemical durability. Table3 DU newly protocol for membrane chamical durability Cell configurationCell size15cm2 (3cm×5cm)Cell holderWith gas channelWidth of gas channel / ribu1mm /1mmFlow fieldStraight flowGas flow directionCo-flowOperation conditionNumber of testN=2Cell temperature90°CPressureAmbientGasH2 / AirFlow rate5% at 0.2 A/cm2 R.H. (Humidifying)30% (61°C)Test time45 hrDiagnosis methodPressureAmbient(Dry/Wet cycle)gasN2 or AirFlow rate200,1000,1500 mL/minR.H.Between 0%(Dry) & 150%(90°C)Cycle number10 or 100 cycleDiagnosisFrequency of LSVEvery 50hr or 100hrCriterionCrossover (Leak current)10 times of initialDurable target500 hour Acknowledgement This research was performed under a grant from the Cell Evaluation Project from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) .

Impact evaluation of Japanese public investment to overcome market failure review of the top 50 NEDO Inside Products

A NEDO Inside Product is a product and/or process created by applying the results of a project developed through Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). These are unique innovative products and processes that have become essential to use in our daily lives and industry, with core technologies essential to their development realized as a result of NEDO projects. To determine whether a product/process qualifies as a NEDO Inside Product, a selection committee conducts a sales analysis and evaluation of its impact, taking into account past sales revenues, recent sales revenues, and sales forecasts. Anticipated gross social benefits, such as employment, CO 2 reduction, as well as the potential for causing 'ripple effects' to other technologies/industries, also are considered. This information is gathered through questionnaire-type surveys and interviews with those participating in the NEDO project, as well as a review of press reports, journal articles, and other publications, such as industry annual reports. Of all the candidates considered, the 50 products with the highest sales revenues and greatest potential for gross social benefit are chosen as NEDO Inside Products. The most recent annual sales revenues of the 50 NEDO Inside Products totaled $39.8 billion; sales forecasts from 2011 through 2020 are estimated at $660 billion. From 2010 through 2020, these products are expected to create 107,000--177,000 jobs and reduce CO 2 by ∼40 million tons per year, assuming that conventional products are replaced with NEDO Inside Products. For 30 years, solar power research and development has been the focus of a number of NEDO projects. The continuation of these projects, the scope of which ranges from fundamental research and development to practical application and demonstration testing, has contributed to society in many ways. Solar power is now a lucrative industry that generates enormous sales, and some of the technologies and discoveries resulting from these projects are now being used in a variety of other applications. Micro-electro-mechanical systems technology, also developed through an NEDO project after >30 years of research, is now being used in the production of functional parts and a variety of products. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

Recent Progress of SOFC Combined Cycle System with Segmented-In-Series Tubular Type Cell Stack at MHI

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) triple combined cycle system, integrated with gas turbine (GT) and steam turbine (ST), is an ultimate fossil fuel electric power generation system with very high efficiency. In 2008, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) operated the 200 kW-class SOFC micro gas turbine (MGT) hybrid system under commission of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and we could demonstrate 52.1%-LHV net power generation efficiency. Based on the successful achievement, MHI developed a more compact 250 kW-class SOFC-MGT hybrid system for the purpose of utilization of a hybrid system in the NEDO project scheduled from fiscal 2011 to 2012. Furthermore, we have started a development of fundamental technologies of SOFC-GT-ST triple combined cycle system that aims to achieve more than 70% of power generation efficiency. In this paper, latest results on the development of SOFC and the systems are described.

Current Status of National SOFC Projects in Japan

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has been conducting technology development and demonstrative research projects on SOFC, as one of the most important and promising technologies for CO2 reduction and realizing dispersed power sources. One of the achievements was the-first-in-the-world commercialization of SOFC-based combined heat and power (CHP) residential system in 2011. Cost reduction and durability improvements of SOFCs, however, still remain critical issues for their further widespread commercialization. In this paper, two NEDO projects relating to SOFCs, “Development of System and Elemental Technologies on SOFC” (FY 2008-2012) and “Technology Development for promoting SOFC commercialization” (FY 2013- 2017) will be introduced.

JS1-4 - Evolutional Drug Development with the Use of Microdosing and PET Imaging

ABSTRACT Microdose clinical trials can be utilized for the purpose to gain pharmacokinetic information on a tentative drug candidate in human using labelled compound(s) and AMS or imaging technology using PET, or non-labelled compound(s) and LC/MS/MS, and to select drug candidate by ensuring adequate properties in early stage. In 2008, the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) project entitled ‘Establishment of Evolutional Drug development with the Use of Microdosing Clinical Trial’ was adopted. In this project, the quantitative prediction method on drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) using modeling and simulation will be applied to human to validate this methodology. That is, based on the in vitro data on metabolism, transport and binding with animal and human tissues, the drug concentration–time profiles in the plasma and target tissues such as the brain, tumor, liver and kidney will be predicted and the validity of the predictions will be investigated by using clinical studies under its microdose and therapeutic dose conditions. PET is a promising approach to determine the functional change of transporters associated with genetic polymorphisms or drug–drug interactions. Labeled PET probes have been developed for specific transporters in this NEDO project. In addition, in 2010, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has launched its second program, the ‘J-AMP; Japan Advanced Molecular Imaging Program’, using the two major centers (RIKEN, NIRS). In this project, research is undertaken focusing on the cancer and dementia fields to contribute to the development of new drugs and biomarkers as diagnostic tools. Here, in this presentation, I will share with you our recent progress in the use of the analysis of plasma clearance of drugs and PET imaging to evaluate the transporter function in vivo.

Hazard Assessments of Manufactured Nanomaterials

It has been difficult to make reliable hazard assessments of manufactured nanomaterials, because the nanomaterials form large agglomerations in both in vitro and in vivo studies. In the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Project of Japan, the physicochemical properties of many manufactured nanomaterials are being measured, and in vitro and in vivo studies are being performed to determine which endpoints are correspond to the hazards and risks of nanomaterials. Focusing on titanium dioxide, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, we introduce findings made in inhalation and intratracheal installation studies overseas, and together with the findings made in the NEDO project, and also assess the hazards presented by manufactured nanomaterials. A project by NEDO has succeeded in ensuring the stability of dispersion (nanoscale <100 nm) of manufactured nanomaterials, and is developing hazard assessments of manufactured nanomaterials. In these interim reports, the acceptable exposure concentration of titanium dioxide and fullerene was proposed to be 1.2 mg/m(3) and 0.8 mg/m(3) respirable dust in working environment, respectively.

Hazard Assessments of Manufactured Nanomaterials

Background: It has been difficult to make reliable hazard assessments of manufactured nanomaterials, because the nanomaterials form large agglomerations in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Objective: A project by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan has succeeded in ensuring the stability of dispersion (nanoscale <100 nm) of manufactured nanomaterials, and is developing hazard assessments of manufactured nanomaterials. Results and Conclusion: Focusing on titanium dioxide, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, we introduce findings made in inhalation and intratracheal installation studies overseas, and together with the findings made in the NEDO project, and also assess the hazards presented by manufactured nanoparticles.

Development of Disk-Type Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell by KEPCO & MMC

The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (KEPCO) and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC) have been jointly developing disk-type intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC) with lanthanum gallate-based electrolyte, since FY 2001. As of FY2004, 10 kW-class modules and a CHP system were developed under a project supported by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). In FY 2006, a 10 kW-class CHP system using town gas as fuel was manufactured and the performance test of the system was carried out. And the first long-term stability test for 3,000 hrs was carried out in FY 2007. Furthermore, after making further refinements to enhance the performance of the 10 kW-class module, the second long-term stability test for 3,000 hrs was carried out in FY 2008. In parallel, development of high-power IT-SOFC with high power density cells started with the aim of cost reduction. The IT-SOFC single stack module was designed as to compose of 32 cells to produce 3 kW DC output. Furthermore, start-stop and cyclic loading tests were carried out under a separate NEDO project.

Demonstration projects for grid-connection issues in Japan

This paper provides an overview of grid-connection-related demonstration projects of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). NEDO is Japan's largest public R&D management organization for promoting the development of advanced industrial, environmental, new energy and energy conservation technologies. One of the important objectives of NEDO's R&D is solving problems that arise when distributed and renewable resources are connected to power grids. These issues arise because the power output from most renewable energy resources fluctuates with weather conditions, and connecting them to traditional power grids can affect power quality. The authors introduce grid-connection-related national projects promoted by NEDO, including PV and wind power stabilization projects, micro-grid demonstrations and battery storage applications.

NEDO GaN HB-LED HVPE project

Nippon EMC Ltd is Japan's oldest and most successful manufacturer of metal-organic phase vapour epitaxy (MOPVE) systems. The company was awarded a New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) grant for the development of hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) systems for mass production of GaN substrates. The results of the new NEDO project will contribute to increasing demands for Group III nitride-based semiconductor devices for next generation DVD, high brightness LEDs and high frequency, high power nitride heterostructure electron devices for telecoms.