Life Cycle Assessment of a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Stack

Fuel cells are considered to be ultra-clean energy conversion systems because the pollutants emitted during their operating time are very low in concentration. For this reason, fuel cells can represent the answer to several environmental issues. What is important, however, is to carefully evaluate it the problem is really being solved, or just shifted. In other words, it is vital to consider not only the operating life, but also the pollution related to the construction, the disposal, the conversion of primary fuel into hydrogen and all the other related operations and systems. The present study is the first step for evaluating the environmental impact related to the whole life cycle of a fuel cell system. In this paper, in tact, the authors, making use of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, analyze the impact associated with a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Stack. Since the MCFC construction can be considered a novel practice, this study can provide a significant indication for pollution reduction in the stack construction phase.