About 35 billion tons of CO2 are emitted globally per year. Our platforms can capture carbon emissions from the exhaust streams of coal or gas-fired power plants while simultaneously producing clean power. Power generation improves the net cost of capture economics, making the fuel cell a practical solution on the path to net-zero.
Learn how fuel cells can recover CO2 while producing low-carbon electricity. Step through an animated walkthrough of the system.
The exhaust flue gases from the coal or gas fired system are fed into the cathode side of the fuel cell. The CO2 in the exhaust is transferred to the anode side, where it is much more concentrated and easy to separate. CO2 from the anode exhaust stream is purified by chilling the stream to extract CO2 liquid. Purified CO2 can then be transported by pipeline for enhanced oil recovery applications or underground storage.
A typical 500 MW coal plant emits 3.6 million tons of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to the emissions of more than 685,000 cars annually. We believe that this presents a significant opportunity to decarbonize.
Conventional carbon capture technologies consume about 20 percent of a plant’s overall power output. FuelCell Energy’s platforms produce additional power rather than consume it during the carbon capture process.
The modular design of the fuel cell units allows a site to scale up to carbon capture and meet energy requirements. Systems can range from a single sub-megawatt (MW) power plant to an entire multi-MW fuel cell park.
FuelCell Energy's 2023 Sustainability Report is now available. Learn more
