Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies today launched the fuel cell industry’s first direct ethanol product, the Bio Energy Diversity Kit, which uses tiny amounts of alcohol and water as its fuel. The product marks another step in Horizon’s commercialization of fuel cells in portable electronics.

The Bio Energy Discovery Kit is a simple educational product used to introduce fuel cell technology to students, aspiring scientists, teachers and engineers. The kit features a fuel cell powered desktop fan that uses a 90? percent water, 10?percent ethanol mix as the source fuel for transforming an electrochemical reaction into electrical energy.

Most fuel cell related developments targeting consumer electronics have so far focused on using liquid methanol (DMFC) as a fuel source. Horizon’s new direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) can generate small amounts of power for days or weeks at a time using tiny amounts of simple household alcohol, such as diluted vodka.