Fuel cells to capture carbon from gas power in Canada

A novel carbon capture project proposed for Canada will use fuel cells to strip carbon dioxide from a gas-fired power plant’s flue gas.

Manufacturer FuelCell Energy has announced a contract with Cenovous Energy to complete the engineering for siting a fuel cell system to capture the emissions from the flue gas. The system will be installed at an existing 14 MW natural gas-fired cogeneration facility located at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

The project aims to separate 75% of the carbon dioxide from the flue gas of the cogeneration plant at the University of Calgary, which provides electricity and heat for the campus.

Fuel cell power plants configured for carbon capture will utilise natural gas as the fuel source and process the flue gas from the natural gas-fired turbine into the fuel cell air system. Carbon dioxide is then transferred across the fuel cell membrane for concentration in the fuel exhaust stream during power generation.

Cenvous says the project will quantify the benefits of the fuel cell carbon capture solution for the separation of carbon dioxide from the flue gas of boilers used to make steam in oil sands production.