Carbon capture: Energy wasting technologies or the MCFCs challenge?

Carbon dioxide is more and more pointed out as one of the factors mostly responsible of climate changes. As a consequence the reduction of CO(2) emissions, especially in the energy generation field, is becoming a worldwide must. This paper presents an overview on the main issues that are expected to affect, from this standpoint, power generation scenario and a spur for a critical comparison among ways to capture CO2 by proposing new aspects to be considered within the evaluation criteria. In particular attention is drawn on the fully innovative opportunities that are offered by Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFCs) as a unique option suitable to effectively combine carbon capture from thermal plants and typical benefits of hydrogen and fuel cell power generation. As an example, such a new option is compared with one of the most common technologies forecast for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and relevant results are shortly presented. Copyright (C) 2010, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.