Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybrid System for Distributed Power Generation

Abstract

This report summarizes the work performed by Hybrid Power Generation Systems, LLC (HPGS) under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC2601NT40779 for the US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (DoE/NETL) entitled ''Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybrid System for Distributed Power Generation''. The main objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of a highly efficient hybrid system integrating a planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and a gas turbine. A conceptual hybrid system design was selected for analysis and evaluation. The selected system is estimated to have over 65% system efficiency, a first cost of approximately $650/kW, and a cost of electricity of 8.4 cents/kW-hr. A control strategy and conceptual control design have been developed for the system. A number of SOFC module tests have been completed to evaluate the pressure impact to performance stability. The results show that the operating pressure accelerates the performance degradation. Several experiments were conducted to explore the effects of pressure on carbon formation. Experimental observations on a functioning cell have verified that carbon deposition does not occur in the cell at steam-to-carbon ratios lower than the steady-state design point for hybrid systems. Heat exchanger design, fabrication and performance testing as well as oxidation testing to support heat exchanger life analysis were also conducted. Performance tests of the prototype heat exchanger yielded heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics consistent with the heat exchanger specification. Multicell stacks have been tested and performance maps were obtained under hybrid operating conditions. Successful and repeatable fabrication of large (>12-inch diameter) planar SOFC cells was demonstrated using the tape calendering process. A number of large area cells and stacks were successfully performance tested at ambient and pressurized conditions. A 25 MW plant configuration was selected with projected system efficiency of over 65% and a factory cost of under $400/kW. The plant design is modular and can be scaled to both higher and lower plant power ratings. Integrated gasification fuel cell systems or IGFCs were developed and analyzed for plant sizes in excess of 200 MW. Two alternative integration configurations were selected with projected system efficiency of over 53% on a HHV basis, or about 10 percentage points higher than that of the state-of-the-art Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems.