Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) will provide DuPont Canada Inc, Mississauga ON, with $19 million in assistance to establish a pilot manufacturing facility for the development of two core building blocks for fuel cell systems. The repayable loan (to be repaid through royalties based on sales) will generate $30-40 million in R&D investment by DuPont and allow the Canadian firm to participate in the extensive fuel cells development program of its parent, EI DuPont. The facility will be built in Kingston ON, where the DuPont Canada Research and Development Centre is located. The project will see DuPont researchers develop new materials, technologies and processes to improve the manufacture of flowfield plates for three types of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. They will also undertake R&D related to unitized cells using direct methanol fuel cell technology as part of the EI DuPont’s global fuel cells initiative. DuPont Canada’s engineering polymers unit which has been examining fuel cell technology for several years….