A Novel System for Carbon Dioxide Capture Utilizing Electrochemical Membrane Technology

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE), in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and URS Corporation, is developing a novel Combined Electric Power and Carbon-Dioxide Separation (CEPACS) system, under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-FE0007634), to efficiently and cost effectively separate carbon dioxide from the emissions of existing coal fired power plants. The CEPACS system is based on FCE’s electrochemical membrane (ECM) technology utilizing the Company’s internal reforming carbonate fuel cell products carrying the trade name of Direct FuelCell ® (DFC ® ). The unique chemistry of carbonate fuel cells offers an innovative approach for separation of CO 2 from existing fossil-fuel power plant exhaust streams (flue gases). The ECM-based CEPACS system has the potential to become a transformational CO 2 -separation technology by working as two devices in one: it separates the CO 2 from the exhaust of other plants such as an existing coal-fired plant and simultaneously produces clean and environmentally benign (green) electric power at high efficiency using a supplementary fuel.The overall objective of this project is to successfully demonstrate the ability of FCE’s electrochemical membrane-based CEPACS system technology to separate ≥ 90% of the CO 2 from a simulated Pulverized Coal (PC) power plant flue-gas stream and to compress the captured CO 2 to a state that can be easily transported for sequestration or beneficial use. Also, a key project objective is to show, through a Technical and Economic Feasibility Study and bench scale testing (11.7 m2 area ECM), that the electrochemical membrane-based CEPACS system is an economical alternative for CO 2 capture in PC power plants, and that it meets DOE objectives for the incremental cost of electricity (COE) for post-combustion CO 2 capture.