Comments on: Are Fuel Cells the Answer to Coal Power Plant CO2 Capture?

By: Rhodes

Rhodes — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:52:00 +0000

The article is completely unclear. It says it could be applied to existing coal-burning plants which can only mean taking the exhaust (exactly as CCS does) which of course makes no sense as input into a fuel cell. If it is initial coal-gasification then it doesn’t use the existing coal-fired plant at all.
If the basis of the idea is underground coal gasification (to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide which can be input into a FC) then that idea has been around for years (and seemingly got nowhere).

By: Fuel Cell-Coal Plant CO2 Capture: Clean Tech Breakthrough? | CleanTechnica

Fuel Cell-Coal Plant CO2 Capture: Clean Tech Breakthrough? | CleanTechnica — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:10:26 +0000

[…] system attached to a coal-fired power plant. This third post on the project – see Parts 1 & 2- explains the way the system is designed to work and what the project aims to achieve.Back […]

By: Fuel Cell-Coal Plant CO2 Capture: Clean Tech Breakthrough? | CleanTechnica

Fuel Cell-Coal Plant CO2 Capture: Clean Tech Breakthrough? | CleanTechnica — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:32:20 +0000

[…] system attached to a coal-fired power plant. This third post on the project – see Parts 1 & 2 – explains the way the system is designed to work and what the project aims to […]

By: DOE Project: FuelCells + Coa l= Clean Coal? | CleanTechnica

DOE Project: FuelCells + Coa l= Clean Coal? | CleanTechnica — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:16:14 +0000

[…] Leave a Comment nRelate.domain="cleantechnica.com";Photo courtesy Wikipedia Back on Oct. 3, I wrote a post about the Dept. of Energy awarding $3 million for Connecticut’s FuelCell Energy to carry out […]

By: Hydrogen Storage-Fuel Cells to Smooth Out German Wind Power | CleanTechnica

Hydrogen Storage-Fuel Cells to Smooth Out German Wind Power | CleanTechnica — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:49:42 +0000

[…] over the ensuing six to nine months.For more on hydrogen storage and fuel cells, check out:- Are Fuel Cells the Answer to Coal Power Plant CO2 Capture?- MIT Researchers Develops ‘Artifical Leaf’ that Splits Water, Produces Hydrogen & […]

By: Research Team Makes Breakthrough in Artificial Photosynthesis | CleanTechnica

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:37:34 +0000

[…] CO2 emissions that are linked to unwanted climate change,” Kenis was quoted as saying.A similar process is actually being put to the test by FuelCell Energy as it moves forward with a DOE-supported […]

By: Nick Cook

Nick Cook — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:23:00 +0000

“The project’s principal goals are to capture at least 90%”
There is a way to use certain fuel cells to efficiently capture 100% of the CO2 when producing electricity from carbonaceous fuels, watch this space.
Bob_Wallace wrote “burn that NG in an advanced combined cycle gas plant? They are very efficient”
You’re right, nearly 60% with the latest, and I believe this is based on HHV (higher heating value) of the fuel, correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve looked at the data for one of Fuelcell Energy’s products (DFC 3000) and they quote 47% but this is relative to LHV(lower HV) which drops to about 42% if you use HHV, the difference is the latent energy in the steam of the flue gasses, although some of this could be recovered if used in CHP mode.
Bob_Wallace wrote “If it’s from cracking water using the electricity”
These fuel cells run directly from natural gas (methane), this is because they operate at high temperature and can ‘crack’ the gas in the cell. This is a good process for CHP applications but for pure electricity use it would probably be better to use CCGT generated electricity if/when available.
Nick Cook – ReSus Technology Ltd, (website pending)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Where does the H come from?

What does hydrogen plus oxygen plus carbon dioxide end up as?

By: AkB

AkB — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:54:00 +0000

It’s not using the CO2 as feedstock for the fuel cell; the CO2 is captured as a side benefit of the fuel cell’s usually primary process of producing clean electricity, but one that could outweigh, economically, the production of clean power as it may provide a cost-effective means of removing CO2 on-site…

By: Akbweb2

Akbweb2 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Capturing the CO2 is a side process of the primary process of recombining H and O to produce electricity…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:07:00 +0000

Yeah, I don’t get it either.

CO2 is not fuel for a fuel cell. You could capture CO2 and use a lot of energy to turn it into liquid fuel (as some are working on) and then use that liquid fuel in fuel cells.

Or you could just skip the coal-burning stuff and the very high hidden cost of burning coal and go straight to cleantech electricity.

By: Dewaynecurry

Dewaynecurry — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:31:00 +0000

This article insinuates that you gain a source of stored power, “fuel cells”. However I did not see that stated directly. Is it really just a similar technology as fuel cells used in a new fashion?