We’re a focused group of business, engineering, and scientific professionals commercializing a transformative energy technology. We develop solid acid fuel cell and hydrogen stacks for portable, stationary and mobile applications, all running on commercially available liquid fuels.
Our competitive advantage
Our proprietary Solid Acid Fuel Cell technology is fuel flexible, low-cost, and rugged:
Fuel-flexible: Unlike low-temperature fuel cells, our products are not dependent on pure hydrogen as a fuel source. SAFCell products operate on common industrial fuels such as: natural gas, propane, methanol, and diesel.
Low-cost: The technology operates at a mid-temperature that avoids exotic and expensive materials used in high-temperature fuel cells. We utilize low-cost metals and flexible polymer seals.
Rugged: Our technology reduces system complexity and increases durability, which is perfect for rugged applications.
When applied to hydrogen generation, the above described solid acid traits result in hydrogen generators that convert industrial fuels into pure, compressed hydrogen inside the solid acid stack. This both increases the overall production efficiency for hydrogen generation from a fuel and at the same time decreases system costs and complexity. SAFCell products therefore have a lower cost of ownership compared to other hydrogen or power generation sources.
Our background
It all started in 1999 with Solid Acid Fuel Cell technology pioneered in the Haile Lab of the Material Science Department at the California Institute of Technology. In November 2009 Dr. Calum Chisholm, together with a team of experienced scientists, engineers and business executives, founded SAFCell to bring the technology to the market.
Founded: 2009
Location: Pasadena, CA
Intellectual Property: 22 issued patents
Customers: Military & industrial
With over $35MM in contract, grant and private funding, we are focused on growing revenue in both the fuel cell and hydrogen generation markets, starting with remote oil & gas and portable military power.
Leadership TEAM
Dr. Calum Chisholm
Chief Executive Officer & President
PhD Materials Science – Caltech
BS Physics – Yale University
Co-founder and original pioneer of SAFCell’s technology at Caltech in 1999.
Mandy Abbot
Director of Laboratory Operations
20 years of experience managing teams in scientific settings to optimize laboratory productivity.
Dr. S. (Zeka) Zekavich
Senior Scientist
PhD Electrochemistry – Belgrad University
Expert electrochemist guiding innovation efforts in electro catalysis and catalyst synthesis methods.
Dr. Ryan J. McCarty
Director of Engineering and Machine Learning
PhD Geo. Env. Science – Stanford University
MS Chemical Engineering – Stanford University
Multidisciplinary engineer overseeing the data platform, measurement methods and computational modelling.
Employee of Quarter
Bailey Di’Rienzo
R&D Technician
Congratulations Bailey! Bailey has been a fast learner and excellent team player as a technician on the R&D team, helping build test cells, doing data entry, and operating the test systems.