Climate Changed

Exxon Mobil's Futuristic FuelCell Carbon Capture Just Might Work

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s foray into carbon capture and storage technology with FuelCell Energy Inc. “is making progress,” Cowen & Co. analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote in a research note Tuesday. The technology has moved from the lab to a commercial test at a power plant in Alabama.

ExxonMobil Corp. signage glows at a gas station in Richmond, Kentucky.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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Exxon Mobil Corp.’s foray into carbon capture and storage technology with FuelCell Energy Inc. “is making progress,” Cowen & Co. analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote in a research note Tuesday. The technology has moved from the lab to a commercial test at a power plant in Alabama.

The beauty of capturing carbon from coal or natural gas-plant exhaust is that routing the fumes through fuel-cell systems generates additional electricity. While the U.S. is retiring dozens of unprofitable coal plants, the fuel still provides 30 percent of the country’s power.