The publicly-traded fuel cell company PolyFuel put out a release today announcing that it recently received two broad patents for fundamental fuel cell technology.

The company claims the patents are key wins, solidifying their leadership in the fuel cell market.  “In any new field, there are ultimately a few, benchmark patents from which much future technology springs. We believe this is one of those situations,” said PolyFuel CEO Jim Balcom in a statement.

That’s because the technology they protect, or the “membranes,” dictate the size, cost, power, and efficiency of the hydrocarbon fuel cells, claims the company.

Fuel cells could one day compete against traditional lithium ion batteries in mobile devices. But there are plenty of challenges that make it difficult to predict the growth of the market.

PolyFuels develops methanol-based portable fuel cells, which potentially would extend laptop “battery” life up to eight hours of more (of course, with a fuel cell in place of a battery). But as CleanEdge partner Ron Pernick points out, if airplanes decide to ban methanol cartridges, much of the fuel cell storage industry would be devastated.

“Airplane restriction could throttle this industry,” he said.

Even without such restrictions, Mr. Pernick expects slow going for the fuel cell market, at least for the next decade.

Fuel cells were a $1.4 billion market in 2006, but most of that figure cites dollars poured into testing and project development. He expects the market to grow to $15.6 billion by 2016. To put that figure into perspective, he added, "that’s about the size the solar market is today."