Fuel cells for carbon capture and power generation: Simulation studies Remston Martis a , Amani Al-Othman a , Malek Alkasrawi b , Muhammad Tawalbeh c,* a Department of Chemical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, PO Box 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates b Department of PS & Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, USA c Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates highlights  Propane and Ethane fueled decarbonization process is simulated using ASPEN HYSYS.  The process contains carbon and hydrogen fuel cells ran at various temperatures.  This process is intended for power production and full carbon capture.  Sensitivity results showed that using propane as a fuel would be feasible. article info Article history: Received 15 February 2020 Received in revised form 8 September 2020 Accepted 22 October 2020 Available online xxx Keywords: Direct carbon fuel cells Hydrocarbon fuels Decarbonization Carbon capture ASPEN HYSYS Sensitivity analysis abstract The decarbonization of hydrocarbons is explored in this work as a method to produce hydrogen and mitigate carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. An integrated process for power generation and carbon capture based on a hydrocarbon fueled-decarbonization unit was proposed and simulated. Ethane and propane were used as fuels and subjected to the thermal decomposition (decarbonization) process. The system is also composed of a car- bon fuel cell (CFC) and hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) for the production of power and a pure CO 2 stream that is ready for sequestration. The HFC is a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell operating at 200  C. Simulations were performed using ASPEN HYSYS V.10 for the entire process including the CFC and HFC being operated at various operating temperatures (200e800  C). The power output from the CFC and the HFC as well as the overall process efficiency were calculated. The model incorporates an energy recovery system by adopting a counter-current shell and tube heat exchangers and a turbine. The water produced from the fuel cell system can be utilized in the plant to recover the heat from the furnace. The results showed a 100% carbon capture with a nominal plant capacity of 108 MWe produced when propane fuel was fed to the decarbonizer. The CFC theoretical efficiency is 100% and the practical efficiency was taken as 70% when all internal polari- zations were considered. The results showed that, in the case of propane, the CFC power output was 89 MWe when the CFC operated at 650  C, and the HFC power output was around 45 MWe at 200  C with an overall actual plant efficiency of 35% and 100% carbon capture. Sensitivity analysis recommends a hydrocarbon fuel cost of 0.011 $/kW as the most feasible option. The results reported here on the decarbonization of hydrocarbon fuels are promising toward the direct production of hydrogen with full carbon dioxide sequestration at a potentially lower cost especially in rural areas. The overall actual * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: mtawalbeh@sharjah.ac.ae, mtawa050@uottawa.ca (M. Tawalbeh). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.208 0360-3199/© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Martis R et al., Fuel cells for carbon capture and power generation: Simulation studies, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.208