Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells for Carbon Capture From a Cogeneration System: A Comparative Analysis of Performance to Other Separation Technologies

This paper develops a mathematical model for the performance assessment and optimization of a small-scale molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) stack for the CO₂ capture and liquefaction from the exhausts coming from an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cogenerator. An internal heat exchangers network has been developed for enhancing heat recovery, optimizing the efficiency of the global system. The model is innovative because, even though similar studies are reported in literature, they have never focused on a small-scale applications of a cogeneration system or compared the global performance to other means of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The energetic performance of the system has been compared to that of a monoethanolamine (MEA) adsorption system, which today is the most common technology for the carbon capture in large scale power plants. The results of the simulation show a carbon capture percent of about 81.3%, while the electrical output of the MCFC is around 280 kW with a conversion efficiency of 54%. The overall efficiency of the cogenerator and CCS system is about 37%. In the investigated MCFC technology the CCS system has a high carbon capture efficiency and produces a net power output unlike competing technologies.