(Yicai Global) June 11 --  Hongda Xingye Group will ally with well-known Chinese developer of rare earth hydrogen storage material General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals Engineering Institute under Beijing-based nonferrous metal material provider Grinm Technology Group to jointly develop low-cost, high performance rare earth hydrogen storage materials.

This cooperation will help Guangzhou-based chemical producer Hongda Xingye build an industry chain from production of hydrogen to its storage, transport and application, it announced yesterday.

GRIMAT Engineering Institute will develop scaleable production of hydrogen storage materials from the rare earths lanthanum and cerium supplied by Hongda Xingye, per the parties' agreement.

Hydrogen storage alloys possess the unique ability to reversibly absorb and release large amounts of hydrogen in either gaseous form or electrochemically. This property finds numerous applications, such as rechargeable batteries and hydrogen storage systems for fuel cells.

After the successful development of new products, the two will investigate industrialized production of new materials based on technology transfers, technology shares and joint investment to build a factory.

One obstacle to commercial development of hydrogen vehicles is the high cost of storage of the fuel in gas form. Rare earth alloys are generally recognized as being a practical and quite good type of material for this purpose.

As a chemical developer and supplier, Hongda possesses abundant hydrogen resources and its rare earth unit in China's northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region operates an industry chain from ore processing to deep processing of these 17 elements which are of critical use in many fields, ranging from consumer electronics to military hardware.  

Editor: Ben Armour