POWER July 2016 - 14

6. Game changer? Fuel cells powered by natural gas could potentially function as carbon
capture technology by using power plant flue gas instead of ambient air. Courtesy: FuelCell
Energy
they respond to different compositions of
flue gas. Assuming success, the second
phase will move to a small-scale pilot project
for additional testing, then integration
into a larger-scale pilot facility.
-Thomas W. Overton, JD, associate
editor
POWER Digest
Fuel Loading Begins at Kudankulam 2.
Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL)
began loading the first of 163 fuel assemblies
into the core of the second VVER1000
reactor of the Kudankulam nuclear
power plant in Tamil Nadu, India, on May
11. The 1,000-MW unit will begin generating
power pending approval from the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. The
unit is the second supplied by Rosatom
subsidiary Atomstroyexport. The first
Russian-built reactor at the plant, Kudankulam
1, started commercial operation
in December 2014, and state-owned firm
NPCIL is readying to build Units 3 and 4
at the site after delays concerning India's
nuclear damage liability law. India is also
in discussions with Russia on costs to
build Units 5 and 6, Indian news media
reported in May.
based FuelCell Energy (FCE), one of the
largest suppliers of fuel cells worldwide,
and ExxonMobil in May announced a partnership
to explore the possibilities for using
fuel cells for carbon capture.
According to Kurt Goddard, FCE's vice
president of investor relations, the application
will depart from the traditional
method of powering the fuel cells with
ambient air and methane. Instead of air,
it uses coal- or gas-plant flue gas.
Normally in FCE's carbonate fuel cells,
methane is reformed in the cell anode to
create CO2
and H2
, which is then used to
generate electricity by combining with oxygen
from ambient air to create an electric
current and exhaust streams of water vapor
and CO2
(Figure 6). The carbon-capture
fuel cell will still be powered by methane,
but by using flue gas instead of ambient
air, the chemical reactions in the cell can
concentrate up to 90% of the incoming
CO2
, which flows with the CO2
generated
in the reforming process into the normal
exhaust stream, where it can easily be
separated from the water vapor.
A critical
difference-and bonus-in
this process is that rather than being a
parasitic drain on the plant, it actually
generates additional power. In addition,
the process destroys roughly two-thirds of
the NOx in the flue gas.
How much CO2
can be captured depends
on how many fuel cells are employed. A
14
typical 500-MW combined
cycle
plant
would need around 120 MW of fuel cells
to achieve 90% capture, Goddard said,
while an equivalent coal plant might need
around 400 MW of fuel cells because of its
lower efficiency and higher CO2
emissions.
Commercial deployment is still years away,
but representatives from both companies
are optimistic about the potential.
The possibilities of employing fuel cells
to reduce power plant emissions for both
coal plants and natural gas combined
cycle plants, and potentially capture CO2
,
have drawn research attention in recent
years, though applications have typically
involved placing the fuel cells in front of
the turbines or replacing typical combustion
processes altogether. The FCE-ExxonMobil
initiative is among the first to look
at placing the fuel cells after combustion.
ExxonMobil began working with FCE on
this project several years ago, Goddard
said, beginning with informal discussions
that led to more formal testing. With the
potential now clear, the two companies
have gone public with the initiative. The
partnership will focus initially on how to
further increase efficiency in separation
and concentration of the CO2
from gas turbine
exhaust. That is expected to take one
to two years.
FCE and ExxonMobil scientists will be
working to better understand the chemical
processes that are taking place and how
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Saudi Arabia Starts Up $3B Oil-Fired
Power Plant. State-controlled Saudi Electricity
Co. (SEC) in mid-May grid connected
and started commercial operations
at the first 660-MW unit of its 2,640-MW
Jeddah South Thermal Power Plant. The
$3.12 billion oil-fired project that was
announced in 2012 makes history in the
kingdom for its use of highly efficient supercritical
boilers. South Korea's Hyundai
Heavy Industries built the plant while Japan's
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries supplied
the equipment. SEC hasn't confirmed
when it anticipates all units to be completed,
though it said that the project will
help meet power demand from the western
region, particularly during the fasting
month of Ramadan (which starts in June)
in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
NuGen Delays UK Nuclear Plant Startup
by a Year. UK nuclear company NuGeneration
(NuGen), a joint venture between
Toshiba's Westinghouse (60%) and ENGIE
(40%), has delayed first power from a
proposed nuclear plant in Cumbria to the
end of 2025, a year later than planned.
The company plans to build three AP1000
reactors with a combined capacity of up
to 3.8 GW at the site near Sellafield in
west Cumbria but has yet to make a final
investment decision, likely to come in
2018. However, if the plant comes online
in 2025, it could overtake EDF's Hinkley
Point C project, which has been billed as
POWER | July 2016

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POWER July 2016

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