Global warming,environmental and sustainability aspects of a geothermal energy based biodigester integrated SOFC system

In this study, global warming, environmental and sustainability aspects of a geothermal energy based biodigester integrated SOFC system are parametrically analyzed. In this regard, a system is designed, consisting of three main subsystems such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Anaerobic Digester, and a Heat Recovery Steam Generator. In order to investigate the global warming, environmental and sustainability aspects of the system, the energy and exergy analyses are performed, and the following indicators are taken into consideration, which are i) unit CO₂ emission, ii) environmental effect factor, iii) waste exergy ratio, iv) exergy destruction ratio, v) exergy recovery ratio, vi) exergetic sustainability index. Accordingly, the maximum exergetic sustainability index and exergy efficiency of the integrated system are calculated to be 0.486 and 0.367, respectively, in case the SOFC inlet temperature is equal to 633.3 °C while electric current density is 5500 A/m². On the other hand, the minimum exergy destruction ratio and the minimum environmental effect factor are obtained to be 0.74 and 2.33 while SOFC inlet temperature is 633.3 °C and SOFC current density is 8000 A/m². The minimum unit CO₂ emission of the whole system is determined to be 368.4 kg/MWh at 5500 A/m² of SOFC current density and 727 °C of SOFC inlet temperature while determined as 258.3 kg/MWh at 8000 A/m² of SOFC current density and 680 °C of SOFC inlet temperature. Thus, it can be said that such a system may be applied for reducing the CO₂ based global warming effects and improving the environmental sustainability.     

Novel hybrid two-stage alkali metal thermoelectric converter and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle to exploit waste heat of solid oxide fuel cell: Performance assessment and optimization

An innovative combination of a two-stage alkali metal thermoelectric converter (TAMTEC), and thermally regenerative electrical cycle (TREC) is employed to utilize the high-quality heat dissipated from solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for further electricity production. The superiority and effectiveness of the SOFC-TAMTEC-TREC system are verified compared to existing SOFC-based hybrid systems and sole SOFC. The performance of the system based on energy, exergy, and economic indicators is evaluated by varying the main design parameters. Parametric assessment demonstrates that the SOFC-TAMTEC-TREC system can reach the maximum power density of 12126 W m^?2 with energy and exergy efficiencies of 47.13% and 50.46% as TAMTEC proportional constant increases to 10^7.5 m² and rising SOFC pore and gain diameters to 3.77 × 10^?6 m and 2.5 × 10^?6 m, respectively reduce the cost rate density of system by 3.55 $ h^?1 m^?2. Furthermore, to achieve the maximum power density and exergy efficiency, and minimum cost rate density, NSGA-III multi-criteria optimization, and decision-making techniques are conducted. Outcomes indicate that Shannon entropy leads to the maximum power density of 8597.2 W m^?2 with a 35.94% enhancement relative to a single SOFC and 1 $ h^?1 m^?2 increment in cost rate density of the hybrid system, while LINMAP and TOPSIS ascertain the minimum increase in the cost rate density by 0.6 $ h^?1 m^?2 with 31.04% improvement in power density relative to single SOFC.     

Exergy Analysis of Solar Still with Sand Heat Energy Storage

This paper studies the experimental and exergy analysis of solar still with the sand heat energy storage system. The cumulative yield from solar still with and without energy storage material is found to be 3.3 and 1.89 kg/m², respectively for 8-h operation. Results show that the exergy efficiency of the system is higher with the least water depth of 0.02 m (m_w = 20 kg). Competitive analysis of second law efficiency shows that the exergy efficiency improves the system by 30% than conventional single slope solar still without any heat storage. The maximum exergy efficiency with energy storage material is found as 13.2% and it is less than the conventional solar still without any material inside the basin.     

A study on sustainability analysis of solid oxide fuel cell and proton exchange membrane electrolyzer integrated hybrid multi-generation system

The main objective of this study is to perform the sustainability analysis of a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEME) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) integrated hybrid multi-generation system that is designed to operate in four modes. In this regard, the effects of performance parameters of PEME and SOFC systems on the sustainability of hybrid multi-generation system are parametrically investigated. Accordingly, in terms of hydrogen production, the best value of hydrogen production is estimated to be 33.09 kg/h for both M1 and M2 operating modes. Moreover, in terms of the sustainability indicators, the maximum power generation of the system is calculated to be 13.9 MW while maximum energy and exergy efficiencies and exergetic sustainability index are respectively obtained to be 89%, 47% and 0.85 in M3 operating mode. However, minimum total product cost per unit energy generation is estimated to be 15.64 $/GJ in M1 operating mode. Furthermore, in terms of the exergetic sustainability index, the maximum effect ratios of the SOFC and PEME on the hybrid multi-generation system are respectively determined to be 5.076 and 16.124 in M1 operating mode.     

Energy and exergy analyses and optimization study of an integrated solar heliostat field system for hydrogen production

In this paper, we propose an integrated system, consisting of a heliostat field, a steam cycle, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and an electrolyzer for hydrogen production. Some parameters, such as the heliostat field area and the solar flux are varied to investigate their effect on the power output, the rate of hydrogen produced, and energy and exergy efficiencies of the individual systems and the overall system. An optimization study using direct search method is also carried out to obtain the highest energy and exergy efficiencies and rate of hydrogen produced by choosing several independent variables. The results show that the power and rate of hydrogen produced increase with increase in the heliostat field area and the solar flux. The rate of hydrogen produced increases from 0.006 kg/s to 0.063 kg/s with increase in the heliostat field area from 8000 m² to 50,000 m². Moreover, when the solar flux is increased from 400 W/m² to 1200 W/m², the rate of hydrogen produced increases from 0.005 kg/s to 0.018 kg/s. The optimization study yields maximum energy and exergy efficiencies and the rate of hydrogen produced of 18.74%, 39.55% and 1571 L/s, respectively.     

The integration of parabolic trough solar collectors and evacuated tube collectors to geothermal resource for electricity and hydrogen production

In this study, electricity and hydrogen production of an integrated system with energy and exergy analyses are investigated. The system also produces clean water for the water electrolysis system. The proposed system comprises evacuated tube solar collectors (ETSCs), parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSCs), flash turbine, organic Rankine cycles (ORC), a reverse osmosis unit (RO), a water electrolysis unit (PEM), a greenhouse and a medium temperature level geothermal resource. The surface area of each collector is 500 m². The thermodynamics analysis of the integrated system is carried out under daily solar radiation for a day in August. The fluid temperature of the medium temperature level geothermal resource is upgraded by ETSCs and PTSCs to operate the flash turbine and the ORCs. The temperature of the geothermal fluid is upgraded from 130 °C to 323.6 °C by the ETSCs and PTSCs. As a result, it is found that the integrated system generates 162 kg clean water, 1215.63 g hydrogen, and total electrical energy of 2111.04 MJ. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system are found as 10.43% and 9.35%, respectively.     

Fuel cell energy generation and recovery cycle analysis for residential application

Today’s concern regarding limited fossil fuel resources and their contribution to environmental pollution have changed the general trend to utilization of high efficiency power generation facilities like fuel cells. According to annual reducing capital cost of these utilities, their entrance to commercial level is completely expected. Hot exhaust gases of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are potentially applicable in heat recovery systems. In the present research, a SOFC with the capacity of 215 kW has been combined with a recovery cycle for the sake of simultaneous of electric power, cooling load and domestic hot water demand of a hotel with 4600 m² area. This case study has been evaluated by energy and exergy analysis regarding exergy loss and second law efficiency in each component. The effect of fuel and air flow rate and also current density as controlling parameters of fuel cell performance have been studied and visual software for energy-exergy analysis and parametric study has been developed. At the end, an economic study of simultaneous energy generation and recovery cycle in comparison with common residential power and energy systems has been done. General results show that based on fuel lower heating value, the maximum efficiency of 83 percent for simultaneous energy generation and heat recovery cycle can be achieved. This efficiency is related to typical climate condition of July in the afternoon, while all the electrical energy, cooling load and 40 percent of hot water demand could be provided by this cycle. About 49 percent of input exergy can be efficiently recovered for energy requirements of building. Generator in absorption chiller and SOFC are the most destructive components of exergy in this system.     

Exergy modeling of a new solar driven trigeneration system

In this paper, exergy modeling is used to assess the exergetic performance of a novel trigeneration system using parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSC) and an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). Four cases are considered: electrical-power, cooling-cogeneration, heating-cogeneration, and trigeneration. In this trigeneration system a single-effect absorption chiller is utilized to provide the necessary cooling energy and a heat exchanger is utilized to provide the necessary heating energy. The trigeneration system considered is examined using three modes of operation. They are: solar mode during the low-solar radiation time of the day, solar and storage mode during the high-solar radiation time of the day, and storage mode during night time. The storage mode is operated through the heat collected in a thermal storage tank during the solar and storage mode. The exergy efficiencies and exergy destruction rates are examined under the variation of the ORC evaporator pinch point temperature, ORC pump inlet temperature, and turbine inlet pressure. This study reveals that the maximum electrical-exergy efficiency for the solar mode is 7%, for the solar and storage mode is 3.5%, and for the storage mode is 3%. Alternatively, when trigeneration is used, the exergy efficiency increases noticeably. The maximum trigeneration-exergy efficiency for the solar mode is 20%, for solar and storage mode is 8%, and for the storage mode is 7%. Moreover, this study shows that the main sources of exergy destruction rate are the solar collectors and ORC evaporators. Therefore, careful selection and design of these two components are essential to reduce the exergy destructed by them and, thus, increase the exergy efficiencies of the system.     

Energetic and exergetic performance evaluation of natural circulation solar water heating systems

This study deals with the energy and exergy analyses of natural circulation solar water heating (SWH) systems. The system comprises of a single glazed flat plate solar collector (FPSC) with absorber plate of 2 m², and a separate insulated well-mixed vertical water storage tank (WST) of 125 liters. The variable heat transfer coefficients, water inlet and outlet temperatures of the FPSC; and temperature of heated water stored in the WST are predicted theoretically for each interval. The daily energy and exergy efficiency of the FPSC, WST and SWH system are estimated to be about 39 and 4.36%, 67 and 38.55%, 27 and 1.01%, respectively. It is found that the water inlet temperature, optical efficiency and the solar radiation strongly influence the performance of the FPSC both energetically and exergetically. It is observed that change in the mass flow rate of water improves the exergy efficiency of the FPSC significantly. FPSC has been identified as a critical component of the system where exergy destruction of 308 W/m² takes place daily as compared to 24 W/m² in the WST against available solar exergy of about 663 W/m².     

Exergy analysis of a passive solar still

This paper presents a steady-state and transient theoretical exergy analysis of a solar still, focused on the exergy destruction in the components of the still: collector plate, brine and glass cover. The analytical approach states an energy balance for each component resulting in three coupled equations where three parameters—solar irradiance, ambient temperature and insulation thickness—are studied. The energy balances are solved to find temperatures of each component; these temperatures are used to compute energy and exergy flows. Results in the steady-state regime show that the irreversibilities produced in the collector account for the largest exergy destruction, up to 615 W/m² for a 935 W/m² solar exergy input, whereas irreversibility rates in the brine and in the glass cover can be neglected. For the same exergy input a collector, brine and solar still exergy efficiency of 12.9%, 6% and 5% are obtained, respectively. The most influential parameter is solar irradiance. During the transient regime, irreversibility rates and still temperatures find a maximum 6 h after dawn when solar irradiance has a maximum value. However, maximum exergy brine efficiency, close to 93%, is found once T_col<T_w (dusk) and the heat capacity of the brine plays an important role in the modeling of collector–brine interaction. Nocturnal distillation is characterized by very low irreversibility rates due to reduced temperature difference between collector and an increase in exergy efficiency towards dawn due to ambient temperature decrease.     

Development and evaluation of an integrated solid oxide fuel cell system for medium airplanes

This paper concerns a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based integrated powering system for a medium-sized airplane and analyzes it thermodynamically for its performance assessment and evaluation. It further investigates the system in relation to aircraft operating conditions and provides the conceptual solutions for heating and cooling at various temperatures. The results of the energy and exergy analyses and performance assessments of the proposed integrated system are presented and discussed. The exergy and energy efficiencies of the main components are calculated and observed for the SOFCs with the maximum values of 84.54% and 80.31%, respectively. The present integrated system has overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 57.53% and 47.18%, respectively. Furthermore, it is found that an increase in the reforming temperature ratio can improve the hydrogen yield. However, when the system is operated at a temperature higher than 800°C, the hydrogen yield decreases since a reverse water gas shift reaction is more pronounced. Moreover, the SOFC shows the best performance at 800°C with a maximum power density of 1.23 W/cm².     

Thermodynamic performance comparison of SOFC-MGT-CCHP systems coupled with two different solar methane steam reforming processes

Multi-energy complementary distributed energy system integrated with renewable energy is at the forefront of energy sustainable development and is an important way to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. A comparative analysis of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)-micro gas turbine (MGT)-combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems coupled with two solar methane steam reforming processes is presented in terms of energy, exergy, environmental and economic performances in this paper. The first is to couple with the traditional solar methane steam reforming process. Then the produced hydrogen-rich syngas is directly sent into the SOFC anode to produce electricity. The second is to couple with the medium-temperature solar methane membrane separation and reforming process. The produced pure hydrogen enters the SOFC anode to generate electricity, and the remaining small amount of fuel gas enters the afterburner to increase the exhaust gas enthalpy. Both systems transfer the low-grade solar energy to high-grade hydrogen, and then orderly release energy in the systems. The research results show that the solar thermochemical efficiency, energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of the second system reach 52.20%, 77.97% and 57.29%, respectively, 19.05%, 7.51% and 3.63% higher than those of the first system, respectively. Exergy analysis results indicate that both the solar heat collection process and the SOFC electrochemical process have larger exergy destruction. The levelized cost of products of the first system is about 0.0735$/h that is lower than that of the second system. And these two new systems have less environmental impact, with specific CO₂ emissions of 236.98 g/kWh and 249.89 g/kWh, respectively.     

Thermodynamic analysis and optimization of an integrated solar thermochemical hydrogen production system

In this study, thermodynamic analysis of solar-based hydrogen production via copper-chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical water splitting cycle is presented. The integrated system utilizes air as the heat transfer fluid of a cavity-pressurized solar power tower to supply heat to the Cu–Cl cycle reactors and heat exchangers. To achieve continuous operation of the system, phase change material based on eutectic fluoride salt is used as the thermal energy storage medium. A heat recovery system is also proposed to use the potential waste heat of the Cu–Cl cycle to produce electricity and steam. The system components are investigated thoroughly and system hotspots, exergy destructions and overall system performance are evaluated. The effects of varying major input parameters on the overall system performance are also investigated. For the baseline, the integrated system produces 343.01 kg/h of hydrogen, 41.68 MW of electricity and 11.39 kg/s of steam. Overall system energy and exergy efficiencies are 45.07% and 49.04%, respectively. Using Genetic Algorithm (GA), an optimization is performed to evaluate the maximum amount of produced hydrogen. The optimization results show that by selecting appropriate input parameters, hydrogen production rate of 491.26 kg/h is achieved.     

Thermodynamic assessment of modified Organic Rankine Cycle integrated with parabolic trough collector for hydrogen production

Hydrogen is one of the most clean energy carrier and the best alternative for fossil fuels. In this study, thermodynamic analysis of modified Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) integrated with Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) for hydrogen production is investigated. The integrated system investigated in this study consists of a parabolic trough collector, a modified ORC, a single effect absorption cooling system and a PEM electrolyzer. By using parabolic trough collector, solar energy is converted heat energy and then produced heat energy is used in modified ORC to produce electricity. Electricity is then used for hydrogen production. The outputs of this integrated system are electricity, cooling and hydrogen. By performing a parametric study, the effects of design parameters of PTC, modified ORC and PEM electrolyzer on hydrogen production is evaluated. According to the analysis results, solar radiation is one of the most important factor affecting system exergy efficiency and hydrogen production rate. As solar radiation increases from 400?W/m² to 1000?W/m², exergy efficiency of the system increases 58%–64% and hydrogen production rate increases from 0.1016?kg/h to 0.1028?kg/h.     

太阳能驱动的固体氧化物电解池制氢系统性能研究

采用太阳能驱动电解水制氢是实现将太阳能转换为氢能来存储的最佳方式。该文提出一种采用光伏、光热协同驱动固体氧化物电解池（SOEC）进行高温蒸汽电解的制氢系统。建立各子系统数学模型,选取北京地区夏至日气象参数,分析太阳辐照度对制氢系统的性能影响,最后对整个系统进行能量及火用分析。结果表明,电流密度和温度是影响SOEC工作的重要因素。在电流密度较大的情况下升高温度,将有利于提高电解效率。耦合太阳能后系统最大能量及火用效率分别达到19.1%和20.3%。火用分析结果表明系统最大有用功损失发生在光电转换过程,火用损比例为87%。提升光电效率,将成为提高太阳能-氢能转换效率的关键。     

Exergy and exergo-economic investigation of a novel hydrogen production and storage system via an integrated energy system

The main purpose of the current research work is to suggest a novel integrated multi-generation energy system and scrutinize 4E evaluation. This system consists of a solid oxide fuel cell, a PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen production, and an ejector-based absorption chiller for the coefficient of performance improvement. All parts of this system are verified with existing reports and papers. Effect of fuel cell current density, SOFC fuel cell temperature, absorption chiller evaporator temperature, and condenser temperature, and outlet turbine pressure has been investigated and reported. The effect of mentioned parameters on the exergy and cost rate has been considered. Data illustrate that the maximum exergy destruction rate belongs to the SOFC contributing 60% of the total exergy destruction rate of the system. Under the given condition of the system, the net produced power is about 200 kW with an exergy efficiency of 30.2% and thermal efficiency of 60.4%. At the considered condition the total cost rate of the system is estimated about 22.29 $/hr. The results of the present work provide a scientific base for designing poly-generation systems with high efficiency and reasonable cost rate.     

Performance of sorption-enhanced chemical looping gasification system coupled with solid oxide fuel cell using exergy analysis

Coal gasification system integrated with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) provides a promising energy conversion way owing to its high efficiency. To get a deep insight into the energy performance of this system, a thermodynamic evaluation is implemented. Meanwhile, the technologies of chemical looping and CO₂ sorption are introduced into this integration system. It is found that the addition of oxygen carrier and sorbent into coal gasification system can promote the output power of the SOFC with a higher exergy destruction, where the exergy efficiency of most modules in the system can reach 80% except tar separation. The results also reveal that a suitable improvement of gasifying agent amount is beneficial to the energy performance of the system. When the H₂O/C molar ratio is increased to 3.0, the SOFC exergy efficiency of 97% can be achieved.     

An analysis of SOFC/GT CHP system based on exergetic performance criteria

In this study, we first consider developing a thermodynamic model of solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine combined heat and power (SOFC/GT CHP) system under steady-state operation using zero-dimensional approach. Additionally, energetic performance results of the developed model are compared with the literature concerning SOFC/GT hybrid systems for its reliability. Moreover, exergy analysis is carried out based on the developed model to obtain a more efficient system by the determination of irreversibilities. For exergetic performance evaluation, exergy efficiency, exergy output and exergy loss rate of the system are considered as classical criteria. Alternatively, exergetic performance coefficient (EPC) as a new criterion is investigated with regard to main design parameters such as fuel utilization, current density, recuperator effectiveness, compressor pressure ratio and pinch point temperature, aiming at achieving higher exergy output with lower exergy loss in the system. The simulation results of the SOFC/GT CHP system investigated, working at maximum EPC conditions, show that a design based on EPC criterion has considerable advantage in terms of entropy-generation rate.     

Development and exergoeconomic evaluation of a SOFC-GT driven multi-generation system to supply residential demands: Electricity,fresh water and hydrogen

In this study, a novel multi-generation system is proposed by integrating a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)-gas turbine (GT) with multi-effect desalination (MED), organic flash cycle (OFC) and polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer (PEME) for simultaneous production of electricity, fresh water and hydrogen. A comprehensive exergoeconomic analysis and optimization are conducted to find the best design parameters considering exergy efficiency and total unit cost of products as objective functions. The results show that the exergy efficiency and the total unit cost of products in the optimal condition are 59.4% and 23.6 $/GJ, respectively, which offers an increase of 2% compared to exergy efficiency of SOFC-GT system. Moreover, the system is capable of producing 2.5 MW of electricity by the SOFC-GT system, 5.6 m³/h of fresh water by MED unit, and 1.8 kg/h of hydrogen by the PEME. The associated cost for producing electricity, fresh water and hydrogen are 3.4 cent/kWh, 37.8 cent/m³, and 1.7 $/kg, respectively. A comparison between the results of the proposed system and those reported in other related papers are presented. The diagram of the exergy flow is also plotted for the exact determination of the exergy flow rate in each component, and also, location and value of exergy destruction. Finally, the capability of the proposed system for a case study of Iran is examined.     

Performance assessment of an integrated PV/T and triple effect cooling system for hydrogen and cooling production

In this paper we study an integrated PV/T absorption system for cooling and hydrogen production based on U.A.E weather data. Effect of average solar radiation for different months, operating time of the electrolyzer, air inlet temperature and area of the PV module on power and rate of heat production, energy and exergy efficiencies, hydrogen production and energetic and exergetic COPs are studied. It is found that the overall energy and exergy efficiency varies greatly from month to month because of the variation of solar radiation and the time for which it is available. The highest energy and exergy efficiencies are obtained for the month of March and their value is 15.6% and 7.9%, respectively. However, the hydrogen production is maximum for the month of August and its value is 9.7 kg because in august, the solar radiation is high and is available for almost 13 h daily. The maximum energetic and exergetic COPs are calculated to be 2.28 and 2.145, respectively and they are obtained in the month of June when solar radiation is high for the specified cooling load of 15 kW.