Application of molten carbonate fuel cell for CO2 capture in thermal in situ oil sands facilities

Abstract The application of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) technology for carbon capture at a thermal in situ oil sands facility has been studied. A steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) facility with once-through steam generator (OTSG) was used as a base case. Engineering modelling was conducted to compare the base case with no carbon capture, and with carbon capture from an OTSG facility using MCFC or amine-based carbon capture. The results indicate that MCFC has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon capture cost at a SAGD facility and to export low GHG intensity electric power. For a 33,000 barrels of oil per day (or 99,000 barrels of steam per day) production facility, a 76 MW sized MCFC would be required to capture 90% of CO 2 from the OTSG. Of the 76 MW power from MCFC, approximately 48 MW can be exported. If reliably produced, excess power generation may provide CO 2 credits by offsetting Alberta grid electricity, possibly leading to a negative carbon footprint in bitumen production. Excess power would also provide a revenue stream to cover some of the cost of capture. The carbon capture cost of MCFC would be about 30% of that for amine-based chemical solvent process.