Plan for UK generating plant using coal gasification, CCS, hydrogen and fuel cells

Three British companies: B9 Coal, Powerful Power Ltd and AFC Energy, having signed a "binding letter of intent" to build a fuel cell power station near Doncaster, UK. Powerfuel Plc operates a colliery near Doncaster, and is planning to build an 800 mW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power station with carbon capture adjacent to it.

The first step is to build an 800 mW combined cycle gas turbine plant which can run on syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, created from gasification of coal). It will run on coal from the coal mine.

This syngas can also be cleaned up so it can be put through alkaline fuel cells to generate electricity, with 60 per cent generation efficiency. B9 Coal will raise the investment to install an AFC Energy's fuel cell to use the hydrogen to make electricity. The idea is that B9 Coal and Powerful will go on to work together developing fuel cell power stations in the UK and maybe other countries too. B9 Coal is an investment company based in Mayfair, London, which has a plan to develop electricity generating stations using coal gasification, carbon capture, and alkaline fuel cells.

“This business venture with Powerfuel is a wonderful opportunity for fuel cell technology on both a local and global scale," says B9 Coal. "Together we can offer a technically advanced solution to the problem of rising carbon emissions, as well as a practical and commercial template for clean energy generation. In the pursuit of a low carbon future, innovative ventures such as these will lie at the heart of a sustainable energy mix."

The development follows an announcement in August, where B9 coal put in a bid to win the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition. The proposal was to build a plant at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth Smelter in Northumberland, using Linc Energy's underground coal gasification to generate a stream of syngas, which would be fed into an AFC Energy fuel cell.