This massive FFI Ionix truck it powered by hydrogent. Photo by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.
An international company has chosen a site in Kent County to base its operations to support global decarbonization and the hydrogen economy.
FFI Ionix will move from its 15,000-square-foot site in Harrington to 60 Starlifter Ave. in Dover . More than 22,000 square feet of the new facility’s $57,000 square feet will be lab space.
The site will be the first Central Delaware location to benefit from the state’s Graduated Lab Space Grant funding, which was established in 2021 to help companies find and outfit the laboratory space they need.
It’s part of the state’s move to attract and keep high-tech and biotech companies interested in Delaware.
FFI Ionix will receiving up to $1.6 million for lab space; a Jobs Performance Grant of up to $70,400; and a Jobs Retention Grant of up to $42,500 from the Delaware Strategic Fund.
A press release from the Delaware Prosperity Project did not specify how many Delaware employees the company has or plans to increase.
It did say the move and expansion has the potential for new professional and semi-skilled positions, including engineers, lab technicians, chemists, quality control personnel and production and warehouse associates.
“This is very exciting for Dover and the greater Dover community,” said Dover Mayor Robin R. Christiansen. “Developing here reassures more jobs and more opportunities for our younger generations, in an industry with the potential to grow, all while decreasing our carbon footprint.”
FFI Ionix, a subsidiary of Fortescue, a global green technology, energy and metals company that ranks 414th on the Forbes Global 2000 list, but its origins were founded in Delaware as Xergy.
Xergy won more than $10 million in research and development funding and patented more than 100 of its membrane and device innovations before being acquired by Fortescue in 2021, when the name also changed.
FFI Ionix focuses on next-generation electrolysis technology, such as anion exchange membrane (AEM), and is a commercial supplier of membranes for water electrolysis, electrochemical compression, water transmission and fuel cells.
The company’s advanced ion-exchange membranes enable more efficient and cost-effective electrolysis, a crucial process for producing green hydrogen from water, and represents continued leadership in Delaware in membrane research, development and production that benefits customers around the world.
FFI Ionix’s focus on innovation in the hydrogen economy aligns with green hydrogen production goals set by the recently designated and federally funded Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub (MACH2), in which Delaware companies will play key roles.
