The CFCPILOT4CCS project reached an important milestone with the start of the civil works for the project. A groundbreaking ceremony took place in October 2024 at the pilot plant location in Rotterdam to officially mark the start of field construction for the pioneering carbonate fuel cell (CFC) project.

The facility will be constructed adjacent to an existing hydrogen plant at Esso Netherlands’ manufacturing complex in Rotterdam.

The pilot plant is expected to be operational by 2026. The goal of the pilot project is to demonstrate the breakthrough CFC technology that was jointly developed by ExxonMobil and Fuel Cell Energy in real-world conditions. The Rotterdam pilot will mark the first time CFC technology is used to capture CO₂ from a working industrial site.

The CFC technology could be an industry game changer. Carbonate fuel cells (CFC) are different from other commercially available CCS technologies because they can generate electricity, hydrogen, and useful heat while capturing CO₂. This increases the overall efficiency of the capture process and provides additional value streams that reduce the effective cost of carbon capture and storage. The CFC technology is also modular, which enables carbon capture across a wide range of deployment scales. These unique features of the CFC technology increase the attractiveness of carbon capture projects and make such projects more accessible for widespread industrial application.