NV Bekaert SA is world market and technology leader in steel wire transformation and coatings. Founded & headquartered in 1880 in Belgium (Europe). Customers in over 120 countries and in all markets and sectors. 30 000 employees worldwide.
Combined sales of € 4,5 billion. Bekaert is the global market leader for tirecord used as reinforcement of radial tires and specialty wire solutions. Bekaert Fibre Technologies (BFT) is a subsidiary of NV Bekaert SA. BFT is market and technology leader for production of metallic fibres.
The core business lies within high volume manufacturing of continuous fibres for post-processing into porous media and textiles. The main business is in porous media for polymer filtration. BFT is also leveraging this knowledge to produce porous transport layers for electrochemical processes, e.g., PEM electrolysis.
Bekaert is the pioneer in metallic Porous Transport Layers (PTL’s) for PEM electrolysis. For more than 20 years, our porous media are commercially used in various electrochemical applications, including water electrolysis, electrochemical CO2 reduction at various leading technology developers.
Our solutions include a wide range of sintered metal fibre media and enhanced media types such as hybrid materials and metals such as Titanium, Nickel, Ni-alloys, Copper etc. Our offering is based on over 40 years of experience, extensive research and advanced capabilities.
Main Tasks in the Project ECO2Fuel
- Within Eco2Fuel, Bekaert will produce sintered copper and nickel fibre structures using its R&D infrastructure at Zwevegem, Belgium as basis for the electrodes and MEA.
- Optimal porous fibre structures will be developed starting from existing products towards optimal gas diffusion efficiency and ease of catalyst coating application.
- These will then also be further processed in catalyst coating and MEA integration.
- These structures will be provided in sheet format, but Bekaert will also optimize the process for providing fibre structures on rolls to facilitate coating application process.
- During the course of the project, Bekaert will supply sufficient materials for construction of demonstrator electrolysers.