Contribution of fuel cell systems to CO2 emission reduction in their application fields

Fuel cells (FCs) and their hybrid systems can play a key role in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The present paper analyzes the contributions of the FC system to CO2 emission reduction in three application fields.In the mobile application field, the direct methanol FC system has little or no influence on CO2 emission reduction.The benefit of the FC in CO2 emission reduction in the transportation field is directly dependant on the H2 production method. Pre-combustion technology (with carbon capture) represents one of the best mid-term solutions for H2 production. If FC vehicles (FCVs) use the H2 produced by this process, the CO2 emissions in this field could be decreased to 70–80% of the traditional CO2 emissions.In the stationary application field, the FC system can be effectively operated as the distributed generation (DG) in terms of CO2 emission reduction. Among the various types of FC or FC hybrid system used for DG, the solid oxide FC (SOFC) hybrid system with a CO2 capture unit is the best option as it doubled the electricity efficiency compared to the traditional combustion cycle and decreases the CO2 emission to 13.4% of the traditional CO2 emission.However, the FC and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies need to be fully developed before the FC can contribute to reducing CO2 emissions.