Incorporation of fuel cell in oil refinery a step to achieve net zero-carbon emission goal

Abstract

The usage of fuel cells is growing rapidly in various industries, and employing it as an alternative power source in oil refineries which will assist many large oil firms in achieving the global energy transition. The present paper focusses on significant utilization of fuel cell in downstream refinery to reach sustainable energy pathway towards net zero emission. The combination of gas turbine technology with high temperature fuel cells provides a power generating platform with ultra-high efficiency, ultra-low emissions, and fuel flexibility. Advances in R & D helps in reducing the cost of fuel cell and are now being used to power fuel cell producing energy ranging from 1 Watt to 10 Megawatt. The auxiliary power supplies and heat energy needed in refineries can be replaced by the use of these fuel cell. Fuel cell can be used in conjunction with the gas turbine for power supply with greater efficiency and lesser use of hydrocarbon-based fuel especially in equipments such as hydrotreater, desalting unit, pump and compressor unit etc. The heat generation in the fuel cell is associated with voltage losses and this generated heat can be used in reformer for hydrogen production, for space heating and preheating the steam required for heating of crude in crude oil distillation unit, vacuum jet, power turbines etc. With virtually zero harmful emission, minimal amount of space and higher efficiency reaching up to 60 %, the fuel cell can be utilized for optimum energy distribution in auxiliary units used in refinery.