FuelCell Energy Inc (FCEL)

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Report
April 23, 2021



Developing and deploying scalable technology solutions
IN THIS ARTICLE
Carbon capture and storage

Advanced biofuels

Energy-efficient manufacturing

Life cycle analysis


ExxonMobil’s sustained investment in R&D plays an important role in positioning the Company to develop next generation solutions and progress breakthroughs in areas such as carbon capture, biofuels and energy-efficient process technology. These solutions are critical to addressing the risks of climate change, and have the potential to be used across multiple sectors including the power, industrial and long-distance heavy-duty transportation sectors.

A variety of disciplines in science and engineering are needed to provide affordable and scalable energy. ExxonMobil employs 20,000 scientists and engineers, including more than 2,000 Ph.D.s, who have a wide range of capabilities. The Company's scientists have authored more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications and been awarded more than 10,000 patents over the past decade. ExxonMobil's patent portfolio is overseen by management to ensure an efficient and effective process is utilized to steward intellectual property.

ExxonMobil collaborates around the world with over 80 universities, five energy centers, and U.S. national laboratories to advance emerging energy technologies. In 2019, the Company formed a research partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory to accelerate development of areas such as carbon capture and biofuels technologies. In addition, ExxonMobil became the first energy company to join the IBM Quantum Network to explore the future potential for quantum computing to solve real-world energy problems faster or more efficiently than classical computing.


ExxonMobil has worked with companies such as FuelCell Energy to facilitate development and deployment of lower-cost carbon capture technologies, and with biological experts at Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) to develop renewable fuels. The Company's strengths in science and engineering across the innovation pipeline, combined with extensive collaborations, provide a unique position to progress energy solutions from lab to scale.

The Company actively monitors emerging and impactful technologies, including solar, wind, nuclear and natural sinks, which are a natural means of removing carbon from the atmosphere. Much of this is undertaken through academic collaborations, which help inform and identify potential future opportunities.

ExxonMobil has demonstrated its commitment to R&D through various price cycles and delivered a number of energy innovations. While deployment at scale takes time, the Company is confident it will be at the forefront of many future innovations to meet growing demand for energy with lower emissions.

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Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the process of capturing CO2 that would have otherwise been emitted to the atmosphere from industrial facilities and power plants, transporting the captured CO2 to a carefully selected storage site and then injecting the CO2 into deep geologic formations for safe, secure and permanent storage. Direct air capture uses advanced materials to capture CO2 from the atmosphere so that it can be stored in geological formations.

CCS is one of the most important low-carbon technologies required to achieve societal climate goals at the lowest cost. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated in its Fifth Assessment Report that the cost of achieving a 2°C outcome would increase by 138 percent if CCS were not included in the set of decarbonization solutions.1 CCS is generally recognized as one of the only technologies that can enable negative emissions, via bio-energy with CCS (BECCS) or direct air capture methods. In many low-carbon transition scenarios, negative emissions technologies are needed to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration. CCS is also one of the only technologies that could enable some industry sectors to decarbonize, including the refining, chemicals, concrete and steel sectors. This could be achieved by directly capturing CO2 emissions from these industrial sources or by using CCS in conjunction with hydrogen production to provide decarbonized fuel to these processes. Click here for more information on the role of CCS under the IPCC Lower 2°C scenarios.

ExxonMobil is a global leader in CCS and has more than 30 years of experience developing and deploying CCS technologies. The Company has equity share of about one-fifth of the world's CO2 capture capacity,2 and has projects operating in the United States, Australia and Qatar. ExxonMobil's annual carbon capture capacity is about 9 million tonnes, the equivalent emissions of approximately 2 million passenger vehicles per year. Since CCS began in the early 1970s, ExxonMobil has cumulatively captured more CO2 than any other company, accounting for approximately 40 percent of all the anthropogenic CO2 that has ever been captured.3 The Company is working to expand capacity and is evaluating multiple opportunities that have the potential to be commercially attractive through the convergence of supportive policy and technology.

In the Netherlands, ExxonMobil is working to advance both the Port of Rotterdam CO2 Transportation Hub and Offshore Storage (PORTHOS) project and the H-Vision study in the Rotterdam industrial area. With potential support from the European and Dutch governments, the initiatives could position ExxonMobil’s Rotterdam refinery as an attractive location for a hydrogen project with CCS and for pilot testing ExxonMobil’s carbonate fuel cell technology. The Company is also researching more cost- effective approaches for deployment of direct air capture at scale, see below.

https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Sustainability/Energy-and-Carbon-Summary/Strategy/Developing-and-deploying-scalable-technology-solutions

. In the
Netherlands, the 2.5 Mtpa Porthos CCS project is expected to take
FID in 2022 and start operations in 2024. Porthos would receive
CO2 from various sources, including from hydrogen production. In
the United Kingdom several projects are undergoing feasibility
studies, potentially adding 20 Mtpa of CCS capacity either entirely
or partly associated with hydrogen production.

https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/4fee1942-b380-43f8-bd86-671a742db18e/GasMarketReportQ32021_includingGas2021Analysisandforecastto2024.pdf

Dutch Gov't Awards $2.56B for Rotterdam Carbon Capture Project
Toby Sterling June 8, 2021


The Dutch government on Tuesday confirmed that it has awarded 2.1 billion euros ($2.56 billion), nearly half of its 2021 annual budget for sustainable projects, to a project aimed at capturing and storing carbon emissions from Rotterdam Port, Europe's largest.

The "Porthos" project, being developed by an industrial consortium that includes Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide and Air Products, , aims to collect emissions from factories and refineries and store them in empty gas fields in the North Sea.

"This will be the first large-scale CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) project in the European Union," said Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius, State Secretary for Economic Affairs in a statement.

The other major category of subsides awarded in the government's 4.6 billion euro budget was for around 3,300 solar panel projects, mostly on rooftops.

The Dutch subsidy system is designed to give extra funding at first to more experimental and costly technologies and projects, while the budget for more established projects -- such as offshore wind turbines -- shrinks as they become profitable.

Home to many large industries and Europe's main seaport, the Netherlands is among the countries with the highest emissions of greenhouse gas per capita in Europe.

It aims to lower emissions by 55% relative to 1990 levels by 2030. Emissions were down 24.5% from 1990 levels last year.

A court in the Netherlands last month ordered Shell to reduce its global emissions by 45% by 2030, rather than the 20% it had been targeting, a decision Shell is appealing. The Porthos project is included in Shell's plans.

https://www.oedigital.com/news/488280-dutch-gov-t-awards-2-56b-for-rotterdam-carbon-capture-project