Simulation of eco-friendly and affordable energy production via solid oxide fuel cell integrated with biomass gasification plant using various gasification agents

Abstract

There has been huge attention has been given to renewable energy resources including biomass, to meet the sustainable energy production plans. As one of the first systematic studies, biomass gasification integrated internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) plant is designed and fed by municipal solid waste (MSW) using four different gasification agents including air (case 1), oxygen-enriched air (case 2), oxygen (case 3) and steam (case 4). Tubular SOFC in the atmospheric pressure is considered in a combined heat and power (CHP) system here. The four cases above are simulated, assessed and compared through energy, exergy, environmental and exergoeconomic analyses to identify the best case scenario. Thereby, the influence of varying several key parameters on the performance of the cases are studied. It is found that, oxygen blown plant (case 3) has the exergy efficiency of 43.6% after optimization which is 0.64%, 10.88% and 19.33% higher than cases 4, 2 and 1, respectively. The total exergy unit cost of the products for oxygen blown case is 3.02 cent/kWh, makes it cost efficient case in comparison to other cases. Moreover, it is observed that the exergy destruction rate of gasification reactor as a main irreversible component decreases while moving from case 1 to 4. Besides, case 3 is the most environmentally-friendly option due to lower emission damage cost. Current contribution clearly exhibits the superiority of alternative gasification agents over conventional one.