FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.) and ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company (EMTEC) have agreed to extend their ongoing joint development agreement through March 31, 2024. The extension enables further development related to manufacturing scale-up and work towards advancing the carbonate fuel cell technology for point source carbon capture applications against a broader set of carbon capture opportunities including lower carbon intensity flue streams. The extended development work will also enable continued joint marketing and sales efforts as well as performance improvement and cost optimization.
FuelCell Energy and EMTEC will continue to work on finalization of engineering and cost elements of a potential demonstration of the technology with ExxonMobil; a final investment decision on the demonstration project is expected later this year.
Jason Few, CEO and president of FuelCell Energy commented, “We are extremely pleased that our jointly-developed carbon capture technology has been found to be feasible for the commercial usage we are targeting and look forward to working with ExxonMobil towards a potential demonstration project.”
He added, “The focus on solutions for industrial businesses to reduce their emissions continues to grow, and we are excited about the promise of this technology to capture CO2 emissions from industrial and commercial exhaust streams. We are confident that the carbonate fuel cell technology can play a key role as part of integrated carbon abatement solutions, which include carbon utilization and sequestration. We are committed as a company to help reduce carbon emissions worldwide.”
Carbonate fuel cells can efficiently capture and concentrate carbon dioxide from external sources. CO2-containing flue streams, like combustion exhaust, can be directed to the fuel cell, where electrochemical reactions produce electricity and hydrogen while capturing and concentrating carbon dioxide for utilization or permanent sequestration. The modular design of the technology allows it to be used in a number of applications in a wide range of locations and enables high efficiency operation while permitting businesses in hard-to-decarbonize industrial and commercial sectors to advance their goals.