Portable applications are considered as an up-to-date market launch scenario for fuel cells. In these small systems, hydrogen can be transported in a pressure cyclinder or in a metal hybrid storage system.
Legal issues concerning filling or transportation particularly in aeroplanes have still to be clarified which is why various manufacturers of electronic devices switch to methanol as a fuel.
This can be converted into hydrogen by reforming, as Motorola has shown or, for example be directly converted into electricity in a direct methanol fuel cell, as demonstrated by Samsung. The typical application areas range from mobile telephones and notebooks to portable electricity generators for leisure-time activities.
The first serial production was presented at the CEBIT 2006. However, an unlimited supply of methanol cannot yet be ensured for these products. As far as the portable application of fuel cells is concerned, the highest market volume is to be expected for membrane electrode units on the short term. In this respect, the use of methanol is, without doubt, in the foreground. On the basis of a new market study, a market volume of roughly 8.9 thousand million USD is estimated for membrane electrode assemblies.