Fuel cell integrated carbon negative power generation from biomass

Combining biomass-fuelled power plant with carbon capture and storage allows CO₂ to be removed from the atmosphere, considering biomass a carbon–neutral fuel. In the present study, a biomass-based CO₂ negative system has been proposed, which combines a biomass steam gasification facility with a solid oxide fuel cell, a post-combustion carbon capture facility with a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), and waste heat recovery using the organic Rankine cycle. A techno-economic analysis of two scenarios, namely a) with MCFC-based CO₂ capture and b) without CO₂ capture, was conducted. Integration of MCFC and carbon capture system was able to capture 99.2% of CO₂. It was found that the energy efficiency of the system was decreased by 9.43%, with the incorporation of CO₂ capture facilities. Furthermore, exergy efficiencies for the configuration with CO₂ capture and without CO₂ capture are calculated as 62% and 70.22%, respectively. The economic analysis reveals that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for the configuration with CO₂ capture and without CO₂ capture is estimated to be 0.062 $/kWh and 0.052 $/kWh, respectively. Finally, life cycle CO₂ emissions for both the scenarios have been performed, and the analysis reveals that the proposed CO₂ negative system is able to capture 1100 tonnes of CO₂ per year.