Accounting Policies, by Policy (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Accounting, Policy [Policy Text Block]

a.   Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC for interim financial reporting. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation have been reflected. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. The results reported in these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should not necessarily be taken as indicative of results that may be expected for the entire year. Certain financial information that is normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”), but is not required for interim reporting purposes, has been condensed or omitted. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management of the Company to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

Discontinued Operations

In October 2014, the Company completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of its Reno Business, and the operations of this business were classified as discontinued operations for all periods presented in this report. Discontinued operations also includes accruals and related costs for the Company’s estimated liability to settle its ongoing indemnification matters with Johnson Matthey (“JM”) associated with the sale of Applied Utility Systems, Inc. (“AUS”), a former subsidiary of the Company, in 2009. In the statements of cash flows, the cash flows of discontinued operations are separately classified and aggregated.

For additional information, refer to Note 13, “Discontinued Operations”.

All discussions and amounts in the consolidated financial statements and related notes for all periods presented relate to continuing operations only, unless otherwise noted.

Concentration Risk, Credit Risk, Policy [Policy Text Block]

b.   Concentration of Risk

For the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, one automotive OEM customer within the Catalyst segment accounted for 59% and 44%, respectively, of the Company’s revenues. This customer accounted for 43% and 50% of the Company’s accounts receivable at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. No other customers accounted for 10% or more of the Company’s revenues or accounts receivable for these periods.  

For the periods presented below, certain vendors accounted for 10% or more of the Company’s raw material purchases as follows:

		Three Months Ended
		March 31,
Vendor	Supplies	2015	2014
A	Substrates	39%	19%
B	Substrates	11%	*
C	Substrates	*	10%
D	Catalysts	*	20%
* less than 10%

Earnings Per Share, Policy [Policy Text Block]

c.   Net Loss per Share

Basic net loss per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net loss per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares and dilutive potential common shares. Dilutive potential common shares include employee stock options and restricted share units and warrants and debt that are convertible into the Company’s common stock. Because the Company incurred net losses in the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, the effect of potentially dilutive securities has been excluded in the computation of net loss per share as their impact would be anti-dilutive. Potentially dilutive common stock equivalents excluded were 2.5 million and 1.9 million shares during the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Fair Value Measurement, Policy [Policy Text Block]

d.   Fair Value Measurements

The Company measures certain financial assets and liabilities at fair value in accordance with a hierarchy which requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs which reflect market data obtained from independent sources and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

·

Level 1: Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities;

·

Level 2: Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are either directly or indirectly observable including quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and

·

Level 3: Unobservable inputs in which little or no market activity exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing.

The Company records its liability-classified warrants at fair value in accordance with the fair value measurement framework. For additional information, refer to Note 10, “Warrants”. The valuation inputs hierarchy classification for the warrant liability measured at fair value on a recurring basis is summarized as follows (in thousands):

Warrant liability	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
March 31, 2015	-	-	$                 2,003
December 31, 2014	-	-	$                 1,474

The following is a reconciliation of the warrant liability, included in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets, measured at fair value using Level 3 inputs (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2015	2014
Balance at beginning of period	$                 1,474	$                   939
Exercise of common stock warrants		(2,505)
Remeasurementof common stock warrants	529	2,051
Balance at end of period	$                 2,003	$                   485

Fair Value of Financial Instruments, Policy [Policy Text Block]

e.   Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 825, “Financial Instruments”, requires disclosure of the fair value of financial instruments for which the determination of fair value is practicable. The fair values of the Company’s cash, trade accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities approximate carrying values due to the short maturity of these instruments. The fair value of the line of credit approximates its carrying value due to the variable interest rates. The fair value of shareholder notes payable calculated using level 3 inputs, using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model to value the debt’s conversion factor and a net present value model was $7.7 million at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014.

New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]

f.   Recent Accounting Pronouncements  

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)". ASU No. 2014-09 supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in "Revenue Recognition (Topic 605)". ASU No. 2014-09 requires entities to recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. It is currently scheduled to be effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within that reporting period. ASU No. 2014-09 provides for either full retrospective adoption or a modified retrospective adoption by which it is applied only to the most current period presented. Early adoption is not permitted. In April 2015, the FASB issued a proposal that would defer ASU No. 2014-09 by one year, but it would permit all entities to adopt the standard as of the original effective date. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU No. 2014-09 on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15, “Presentation of Financial Statements-Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern”. ASU No. 2014-15 defines management's responsibility to assess an entity's ability to continue as a going concern, and to provide related footnote disclosures in certain circumstances. It is effective for annual reporting periods ending after December 15, 2016, and for annual and interim reporting periods thereafter. Early adoption is permitted. The Company has not elected to early adopt, and it is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU No. 2014-15 on its consolidated financial statements.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, "Interest—Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs". ASU No. 2015-03 requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be reported on the consolidated statements of financial condition as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability. It is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, including interim periods within that reporting period with early application permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. The Company has not elected to early adopt, and it does not expect the impact of the adoption of ASU No. 2015-03 to be material to its consolidated financial statements.