Abstract
In the present work, an ethanol fed Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine (SOFC-GT) system has been parametrically analyzed in terms of exergy and compared with a single SOFC system. The solid oxide fuel cell was fed with hydrogen produced from ethanol steam reforming. The hydrogen utilization factor values were kept between 0.7 and 1. The SOFC’s Current-Volt performance was considered in the range of 0.1–3 A/cm2 at 0.9–0.3 V, respectively, and at the intermediate operating temperatures of 550 and 600 °C, respectively. The curves used represent experimental results obtained from the available bibliography. Results indicated that for low current density values the single SOFC system prevails over the SOFC-GT hybrid system in terms of exergy efficiency, while at higher current density values the latter is more efficient. It was found that as the value of the utilization factor increases the SOFC system becomes more efficient than the SOFC-GT system over a wider range of current density values. It was also revealed that at high current density values the increase of SOFC operation temperature leads in both cases to higher system efficiency values.
Highlights
The majority of current energy needs is supplied by combustion of non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels, which is associated with the release of large quantities of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), and other harmful emissions to the atmosphere
Another aspect of this work is the exergetic comparison of a single ITSOFC system with an ITSOFC-GT system in order to investigate operating conditions where a hybrid system prevails in terms of efficiency
When the systems are operating with low fuel utilization factor, the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine (SOFC-GT) plant is more efficient than the Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) plant
Summary
The majority of current energy needs is supplied by combustion of non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels, which is associated with the release of large quantities of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), and other harmful emissions to the atmosphere. The model simulates—from energy and exergy point of view—the operation of an intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell integrated with a conventional gas turbine (IT-SOFC-GT). It is the first time to our knowledge that experimental results for an intermediate temperature fuel cell performance taken from the open literature are used Another aspect of this work is the exergetic comparison of a single ITSOFC system with an ITSOFC-GT system in order to investigate operating conditions where a hybrid system prevails in terms of efficiency
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