Experimental Investigation of CO2 Separation from Hard Coal Flue Gases by 100 cm2 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

The paper presents an experimental investigation of using a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) for reducing CO2 emission from the flue gas of a hard coal fired boiler. The MCFC is placed in the flue gas stream and separates CO2 from the cathode side to the anode side. As a result, a mixture of CO2 and H2O is obtained; from which pure CO2 can be obtained by water condensation. The main advantages of this solution are: additional electricity generated, reduced CO2 emissions and higher system efficiency. The results obtained show that the use of an MCFC could reduce CO2 emissions by 90% with over 35% efficiency in additional power generation.