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To: marcos who wrote (201177)7/20/2011 10:06:04 AM
From: No Mo Mo  Respond to of 313075
 
Scandium?

John Kaiser has talked about Scandium regarding the fuel cell tech of this company: en.wikipedia.org

"The Bloom Energy Server uses thin white ceramic plates (100 × 100 mm)[7] which are claimed to be made from "beach sand" . Each ceramic plate is coated with a green nickel oxide-based ink on one side (anode) and another black (probably Lanthanum strontium manganite) ink on the other side (cathode),[8] .[9] According to the San Jose Mercury News, "Bloom's secret technology apparently lies in the proprietary green ink that acts as the anode and the black ink that acts as the cathode--" but in fact these materials are widely known in the field of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Wired reports that the secret ingredient may be yttria-stabilized zirconia based upon a 2006 patent filing (7,572,530) that was granted to Bloom in 2009; but this material is also one of the most common electrolyte materials in the field.[10] US US20080261099 , which is assigned to Bloom Energy Corporation, says that the "electrolyte includes yttria stabilized zirconia and a scandia stabilized zirconia, such as a scandia ceria stabilized zirconia". ScSZ has a higher conductivity than YSZ at lower temperatures which provides greater efficiency and higher reliability when used as an electrolyte in SOFC applications. Scandia is scandium oxide (Sc3O2) which is a transition metal oxide that is sold between US$1400 to US$2000 per kilogram in 99.9% form. Current annual world wide production of scandium is less than 2000 kilogram. Most of the 5000 kilogram used annually is sourced from limited former Soviet era stockpiles."

I owned EMC.TO for a while solely b/c they were trying to develop a Scandium project in NSWales (Australia). I haven't looked at it in a while, sourcing sufficient Scandium was the major hurdle that Bloom Energy needed to overcome.