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HSM Announces Breakthrough Material for Solid Hydrogen Storage Systems.

Company’s Recent Achievement of Direct Hydrogenation of Aluminum Will Lead to Safer and More Practical Methods of Storing and Transporting Hydrogen.

For Immediate Release – March 7, 2007

Fredericton, Canada – HSM Systems Inc. (HSM) today announced a breakthrough in the development of new solid materials for the purpose of storing and transporting hydrogen. The company’s research and development team has successfully hydrogenated aluminum under modest pressures and temperatures by using a supercritical fluid.

“We are ecstatic about the results” said Chris Willson, President of HSM. “The company is dedicated to the development of novel technologies and materials for the storage and transport of hydrogen. Today the company is engaged in multiple projects that will lead to the storage and distribution of hydrogen being lighter, safer, and more economical than existing means. We not only see these technologies being adaptable for current hydrogen applications but for future ones such as automotive, distributed and bulk energy, and residential fuel cells. From an environmental perspective, this will also help reduce greenhouse gases and non-renewable energy use.” Mr. Willson adds.

More specifically, the research is producing reversible hydrogen storage materials that can be processed into a powder for use in commercial applications. The company uses its patented supercritical fluid technology in the synthesis and rehydrogenation of light metal hydrogen storage materials allowing the reversibility of known materials. HSM Systems is testing its initial products that stores more than 6% hydrogen by weight. The patented direct hydrogenation of aluminum is leading to products that will store better than 9% hydrogen by weight. HSM believes that these breakthroughs will lead to acceptance of its materials as the industry standard, and will allow for the expansion of its business into hydride tanker trucks for the widespread distribution of hydrogen, and the use of its container as a fuel tank within fuel cell and hydrogen powered vehicles.

HSM through its Research and License Agreement with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) is collaborating with Dr. Craig Jensen, a leader with over 25 years experience in the field of novel hydride materials and his team at the University of Hawaii.

“Aluminum is the preferred material because it has many of the properties that are a pre requisite to be considered viable for hydrogen storage applications” said Dr. Jensen. Most notably these materials contain 10.1 wt % hydrogen and undergo dehydrogenation at appreciable rates at temperatures below 100 C. However, the very low enthalpy of dehydrogenation of alane prohibits subsequent re-hydrogenation through standard gas-solid techniques except at very high pressures or very low temperatures. Dr. Sean McGrady, lead researcher on the project who has over two decades in the handling of reactive inorganic materials, adds that the extremely low solubility of gaseous hydrogen in conventional organic solvents also vitiates a solution-based approach. “Re-hydrogenation of aluminum using a supercritical fluid potentially offers a workable approach since the fluid can act as a solvent, at the same time remaining completely miscible with permanent gases like hydrogen.”

Drs. McGrady and Jensen are co presenting the results of these findings and the experimental details of HSM’s products at the American Physical Society’s March meeting being held this week in Denver, Colorado.

About HSM HSM Systems Inc., based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, is a privately held company founded in 2004 for the research, development and commercialization of novel technologies and materials for the purpose of providing safe and economical storage and transport of hydrogen. Since its incorporation in January, 2005 the company has secured over $3.3 million in funding to support the company’s research and business operations. The company has raised $2.5 million in Federal Government Funding and over $800,000 in private equity.

About UNB A first-class teaching and research institution, the University of New Brunswick is one of the oldest public universities in North America. Located in eastern Canada, UNB enrolls more than 11,700 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries around the world. Through partnerships with business, industry, government and community groups, UNB's researchers provide leadership in the development and application of new technology, the resolution of social problems, and the economic growth of the province and the region. Visit http://www.unb.ca for more information.