Significant Customers and Contingencies	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Significant Customers and Contingencies [Abstract]
Significant Customers and Contingencies	(7) Significant Customers and Contingencies Sales to three customers constituted approximately 62%, 9% and 7%, respectively, of our total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2012, and 68%, 9% and 4%, respectively, of our total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. Amounts included in accounts receivable on September 30, 2012 relating to these three customers were approximately $602,000, $0 and $88,000, respectively. Revenue from these three customers constituted approximately 53%, 22% and 8%, respectively, of our total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2011, as compared to 55%, 22% and 6%, respectively, of our total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2011. Amounts included in accounts receivable on September 30, 2011 relating to these three customers were approximately $286,000, $249,000 and $98,000, respectively. We currently have supply agreements with BASF Corporation (“BASF”), our largest customer, that have contingencies outlined which could potentially result in the license of technology and/or sale of production equipment, from the Company to the customer, providing capacity sufficient to meet the customer’s production needs, if triggered by our failure to meet certain performance requirements, certain other obligations and/or certain financial condition covenants. The financial condition covenants in one of our supply agreements with BASF “trigger” a technology transfer right (license and, optionally, an equipment sale) in the event (a) that earnings for our twelve month period ending with our most recently published quarterly financial statements are less than zero and our cash, cash equivalents and certain investments are less than $2,000,000, or (b) of an acceleration of any debt maturity having a principal amount of more than $10,000,000. Our supply agreements with BASF also “trigger” a technology transfer right in the event of our insolvency, as further defined within the agreements. In the event of an equipment sale, upon incurring a triggering event, the equipment would be sold to the customer at the greater of 30% of the original book value of such equipment, and any associated upgrades to it, or 115% of the equipment’s net book value. We believe that we have sufficient cash (See Liquidity and Capital Resources in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for a further discussion) to operate our business during 2012. We also expect a favorable fluctuation in working capital, particularly as the price of one of our raw materials, cerium oxide, has declined in 2012 from historic highs experienced during 2011. On July 20, 2012, we completed a fully subscribed stockholder rights offering, pursuant to which our existing stockholders exercising their basic and oversubscription rights purchased a total of 7,250,000 shares of our common stock, which was the maximum number of shares offered in the rights offering, at a price of $0.33 per full share. We received approximately $2.2 million in proceeds from the rights offering, net of costs. If a triggering event were to occur and BASF elected to proceed with the license and related equipment sale mentioned above, the Company would receive royalty payments from this customer for products sold using the Company’s technology; however, we would lose both significant revenue and the ability to generate significant revenue to replace that which was lost in the near term. Replacement of necessary equipment that could be purchased and removed by the customer pursuant to this triggering event could take in excess of twelve months. Any additional capital outlays required to rebuild capacity would probably be greater than the proceeds from the purchase of the assets as dictated by our agreement with BASF. Similar consequences would occur if we were determined to have materially breached certain other provisions of the supply agreement with BASF. Any such event would also likely result in the loss of many of our key staff and line employees due to economic realities. We believe that our employees are a critical component of our success, and it could be difficult to quickly replace and train them. Upon the occurrence of any such event, we might not be able to hire and retain skilled employees given the stigma relating to such an event and its impact on us. Any shortfall in capital needed to operate the business as management intends, including with respect to avoiding this triggering event as described above, may result in a curtailment of certain activities or anticipated investments.

Significant Customers and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Significant Customers and Contingencies [Abstract]

(7) Significant Customers and Contingencies

Sales to three customers constituted approximately 62%, 9% and 7%, respectively, of our total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2012, and 68%, 9% and 4%, respectively, of our total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. Amounts included in accounts receivable on September 30, 2012 relating to these three customers were approximately $602,000, $0 and $88,000, respectively. Revenue from these three customers constituted approximately 53%, 22% and 8%, respectively, of our total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2011, as compared to 55%, 22% and 6%, respectively, of our total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2011. Amounts included in accounts receivable on September 30, 2011 relating to these three customers were approximately $286,000, $249,000 and $98,000, respectively.

We currently have supply agreements with BASF Corporation (“BASF”), our largest customer, that have contingencies outlined which could potentially result in the license of technology and/or sale of production equipment, from the Company to the customer, providing capacity sufficient to meet the customer’s production needs, if triggered by our failure to meet certain performance requirements, certain other obligations and/or certain financial condition covenants. The financial condition covenants in one of our supply agreements with BASF “trigger” a technology transfer right (license and, optionally, an equipment sale) in the event (a) that earnings for our twelve month period ending with our most recently published quarterly financial statements are less than zero and our cash, cash equivalents and certain investments are less than $2,000,000, or (b) of an acceleration of any debt maturity having a principal amount of more than $10,000,000. Our supply agreements with BASF also “trigger” a technology transfer right in the event of our insolvency, as further defined within the agreements. In the event of an equipment sale, upon incurring a triggering event, the equipment would be sold to the customer at the greater of 30% of the original book value of such equipment, and any associated upgrades to it, or 115% of the equipment’s net book value.

We believe that we have sufficient cash (See Liquidity and Capital Resources in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for a further discussion) to operate our business during 2012. We also expect a favorable fluctuation in working capital, particularly as the price of one of our raw materials, cerium oxide, has declined in 2012 from historic highs experienced during 2011. On July 20, 2012, we completed a fully subscribed stockholder rights offering, pursuant to which our existing stockholders exercising their basic and oversubscription rights purchased a total of 7,250,000 shares of our common stock, which was the maximum number of shares offered in the rights offering, at a price of $0.33 per full share. We received approximately $2.2 million in proceeds from the rights offering, net of costs. If a triggering event were to occur and BASF elected to proceed with the license and related equipment sale mentioned above, the Company would receive royalty payments from this customer for products sold using the Company’s technology; however, we would lose both significant revenue and the ability to generate significant revenue to replace that which was lost in the near term. Replacement of necessary equipment that could be purchased and removed by the customer pursuant to this triggering event could take in excess of twelve months. Any additional capital outlays required to rebuild capacity would probably be greater than the proceeds from the purchase of the assets as dictated by our agreement with BASF. Similar consequences would occur if we were determined to have materially breached certain other provisions of the supply agreement with BASF. Any such event would also likely result in the loss of many of our key staff and line employees due to economic realities. We believe that our employees are a critical component of our success, and it could be difficult to quickly replace and train them. Upon the occurrence of any such event, we might not be able to hire and retain skilled employees given the stigma relating to such an event and its impact on us. Any shortfall in capital needed to operate the business as management intends, including with respect to avoiding this triggering event as described above, may result in a curtailment of certain activities or anticipated investments.