Novel and optimal integration of SOFC-ICGT hybrid cycle: Energy analysis and entropy generation minimization

Integrating fuel cells with conventional gas turbine based power plant yields higher efficiency, especially solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with gas turbine (GT). SOFCs are energy efficient devices, performance of which are not limited to Carnot efficiency and considered as most promising candidate for thermal integration with Brayton cycle. In this paper, a novel and optimal thermal integration of SOFC with intercooled-recuperated gas turbine has been presented. A thermodynamic model of a proposed hybrid cycle has been detailed along with a novelty of adoption of blade cooled gas turbine model. On the basis of 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics, parametric analysis has been carried out, in which impact of turbine inlet temperature and compression ratio has been observed on various output parameters such as hybrid efficiency, hybrid plant specific work, mass of blade coolant requirement and entropy generation rate. For optimizing the system performance, entropy minimization has been carried out, for which a constraint based algorithm has been developed. The result shows that entropy generation of a proposed hybrid cycle first increases and then decreases, as the turbine inlet temperature of the cycle increases. Furthermore, a unique performance map has also been plotted for proposed hybrid cycle, which can be utilized by power plant designer. An optimal efficiency of 74.13% can be achieved at TIT of 1800 K and r_p,c 20.     

Parameter optimization study on SOFC‐MGT hybrid power system

This paper mainly studied the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)–micro gas turbine (MGT) hybrid power system. The key parameters that greatly influence the overall system performance have been studied and optimized. The thermodynamic potential of improving the hybrid system performance by integrating SOFC with the advanced thermal cycle system is analyzed. The optimization rules of main parameters of SOFC‐MGT hybrid power system with the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) of MGT as a constraint condition are revealed. The research results show that TIT is a key parameter that limits the electrical efficiency of hybrid power system. With the increase of the cell number, both the power generation efficiency of the hybrid cycle power system and TIT increase. Regarding the hybrid system with the fixed cell number, in order to get a higher electrical efficiency, the operating temperature of SOFC should be enhanced as far as possible. However, the higher operating temperature will result in the higher TIT. Increasing of fuel utilization factor is an effective measure to improve the performance of hybrid system. At the same time, TIT increases slightly. Both the electrical efficiency of hybrid power system and TIT reduce with the increase of the ratio of steam to carbon. The achievements obtained from this paper will provide valuable information for further study on SOFC‐MGT hybrid power system with high efficiency. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of parameters affecting the performance of gas turbines and combined cycle plants with vapor absorption inlet air cooling

The integration of an aqua‐ammonia inlet air‐cooling scheme to a cooled gas turbine‐based combined cycle has been analyzed. The heat energy of the exhaust gas prior to the exit of the heat recovery steam generator has been chosen to power the inlet air‐cooling system. Dual pressure reheat heat recovery steam generator is chosen as the combined cycle configuration. Air film cooling has been adopted as the cooling technique for gas turbine blades. A parametric study of the effect of compressor–pressure ratio, compressor inlet temperature, turbine inlet temperature, ambient relative humidity, and ambient temperature on performance parameters of plants has been carried out. It has been observed that vapor absorption inlet air cooling improves the efficiency of gas turbine by upto 7.48% and specific work by more than 18%, respectively. However, on the adoption of this scheme for combined cycles, the plant efficiency has been observed to be adversely affected, although the addition of absorption inlet air cooling results in an increase in plant output by more than 7%. The optimum value of compressor inlet temperature for maximum specific work output has been observed to be 25 °C for the chosen set of conditions. Further reduction of compressor inlet temperature below this optimum value has been observed to adversely affect plant efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of operating and design parameters on the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell–gas turbine system

We present a steady‐state thermodynamic model of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)–gas turbine (GT) cycle developed using a commercial process simulation software, AspenPlus?. The hybrid cycle model incorporates a zero‐dimensional macro‐level SOFC model. A parametric study was carried out using the developed model to study the effects of system pressure, SOFC operating temperature, turbine inlet temperature, steam‐to‐carbon ratio, SOFC fuel utilization factor, and GT isentropic efficiency on the specific work output and efficiency of a generic hybrid cycle with and without anode recirculation. The results show that system pressure and SOFC operating temperature increase the cycle efficiency regardless of the presence of anode recirculation. On the other hand, the specific work decreases with operating temperature. Overall, the model can successfully capture the complex performance trends observed in hybrid cycles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermo-economic modeling of a solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine power plant with semi-direct coupling and anode recycling

Power generation using gas turbine (GT) power plants operating on the Brayton cycle suffers from low efficiencies, resulting in poor fuel to power conversion. A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed for integration into a 10 MW gas turbine power plant, operating at 30% efficiency in order to improve system efficiencies and economics. The SOFC system is semi-directly coupled to the gas turbine power plant, with careful attention paid to minimize the disruption to the GT operation. A thermo-economic model is developed for the hybrid power plant, and predicts an optimized power output of 21.6 MW at 49.2% efficiency. The model also predicts a breakeven per-unit energy cost of USD 4.70 ¢/kWh for the hybrid system based on futuristic mass generation SOFC costs. Results show that SOFCs can be semi-directly integrated into existing GT power systems to improve their thermodynamic and economic performance.     

Study over thermal state of gas turbine engine metal-ceramic rotor blades and nozzle guide vanes under thermal shock and thermal-cyclic loading conditions

To ensure a reliable operation of the 2.5 MW gas turbine engine (GTE- 2.5) with the inlet gas temperature TIT = 1623 K, studies were performed over the thermal state of the nozzle guide vanes and rotor blades with the temperatures, rates and flows of the working media and cooling air simulating all the potential turbine stage operating duties. The steady state and thermal-cyclic tests having been accomplished, there was no visible defect on the rotor blades and the nozzle vanes. Afterwards, they survived the endurance tests at the rated cooling. Therefore, the functionality of the shell thin-wall hybrid nozzle vanes and rotor blades under the variable operating duties of the gas turbine at the "shock" and "cyclic" loads of the working media temperature variations has been demonstrated.     

Energetic and exergetic parametric study of a SOFC-GT hybrid power plant

A parametric study is conducted on a hybrid SOFC-GT cycle as part of a national program aiming to improve the efficiency of the actual gas turbine power plants and to better undertake the future investigations. The proposed power plant is mainly constituted by a Gas Turbine cycle, a SOFC system, and an ammonia water absorption refrigerating system. An external pre-reformer is installed before the SOFC. Heat recovery systems are adopted to valorize the waste heat at the SOFC and GT exhausts. The gas from the SOFC exhaust is also used as additional supply for the combustion chamber. An extraction is performed on the gas Turbine in order to feed the SOFC cycle by thermal heat flux at medium pressure.The equations governing the electrochemical processes, the energy and the exergy balances of the power plant components are established. Numerical simulation using EES software is performed. The influences of key operating parameters, such as humidity, pre-reforming fraction, extraction fraction from the Gas Turbine and fuel utilization on the performances of the SOFC-GT hybrid system are analyzed. Obtained results show that the integration of the SOFC enhances significantly the hybrid overall cycle efficiency. The increase of the ambient temperature and humidity reduces the system efficiencies. The utilization factor has a negative effect on the SOFC temperature and voltage. That leads to a decrease in the power plant performances. While the pre-reforming fraction, has a positive effect on the indicated parameters.     

Thermodynamic modeling of a gas turbine cycle combined with a solid oxide fuel cell

This study examines the performance of a high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell combined with a conventional recuperative gas turbine (GT–SOFC) plant, as well as the irreversibility within the system. Individual models are developed for each component, through applications of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The overall system performance is then analyzed by employing individual models and further applying thermodynamic laws for the entire cycle, to evaluate the thermal efficiency and entropy production of the plant. The results of an assessment of the cycle for certain operating conditions are compared against those available in the literature. The comparisons provide useful verification of the thermodynamic simulations in the present work. The comparisons provide useful verification of the thermal simulations in the present work. Further outcomes indicate that increasing the turbine inlet temperature results in decreasing the thermal efficiency of the cycle, whereas it improves the net specific power output. Moreover, an increase in either the turbine inlet temperature or compression ratio leads to a higher rate of entropy generation within the plant. It was found that the combustor and SOFC contribute predominantly to the total irreversibility of the system. About 60% of the irreversibility takes place in the following components at typical operating conditions: 31.4% in the combustor and 27.9% in the SOFC. A comparison between the GT–SOFC plant and a traditional GT cycle, based on identical operating conditions, is also made. Although the irreversibility of a modern plant is higher than that of a conventional cycle, the superior performance of a GT–SOFC, in terms of thermal efficiency and environmental impact (lower CO₂ emissions), over a traditional GT cycle is evident. It has about 27.8% higher efficiency than a traditional GT plant. In this case, the thermal efficiency of the integrated cycle becomes as high as 60.6% at the optimum compression ratio.     

Thermo-economic modeling of an indirectly coupled solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine hybrid power plant

Power generation using gas turbine (GT) power plants operating on the Brayton cycle suffers from low efficiencies, resulting in poor fuel to power conversion. A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed for integration into a 10 MW gas turbine power plant, operating at 30% efficiency, in order to improve system efficiencies and economics. The SOFC system is indirectly coupled to the gas turbine power plant, paying careful attention to minimize the disruption to the GT operation. A thermo-economic model is developed for the hybrid power plant, and predicts an optimized power output of 20.6 MW at 49.9% efficiency. The model also predicts a break-even per-unit energy cost of USD 4.65 ¢ kWh⁻¹ for the hybrid system based on futuristic mass generation SOFC costs. This shows that SOFCs may be indirectly integrated into existing GT power systems to improve their thermodynamic and economic performance.     

Cost numerical optimization of the triple‐pressure steam‐reheat gas‐reheat gas‐recuperated combined power cycle that uses steam for cooling the first GT

Optimization is an important method for improving the efficiency and power of the combined cycle. In this paper, the triple‐pressure steam‐reheat gas‐reheat gas‐recuperated combined cycle that uses steam for cooling the first gas turbine (the regular steam‐cooled cycle) was optimized relative to its operating parameters. The optimized cycle generates more power and consumes more fuel than the regular steam‐cooled cycle. An objective function of the net additional revenue (the saving of the optimization process) was defined in terms of the revenue of the additional generated power and the costs of replacing the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and the costs of the additional operation and maintenance, installation, and fuel. Constraints were set on many operating parameters such as air compression ratio, the minimum temperature difference for pinch points (δT_ppm), the dryness fraction at steam turbine outlet, and stack temperature. The net additional revenue and cycle efficiency were optimized at 11 different maximum values of turbine inlet temperature (TIT) using two different methods: the direct search and the variable metric. The optima were found at the boundaries of many constraints such as the maximum values of air compression ratio, turbine outlet temperature (TOT), and the minimum value of stack temperature. The performance of the optimized cycles was compared with that for the regular steam‐cooled cycle. The results indicate that the optimized cycles are 1.7–1.8 percentage points higher in efficiency and 4.4–7.1% higher in total specific work than the regular steam‐cooled cycle when all cycles are compared at the same values of TIT and δT_ppm. Optimizing the net additional revenue could result in an annual saving of 21 million U.S. dollars for a 439 MW power plant. Increasing the maximum TOT to 1000°C and replacing the stainless steel recuperator heat exchanger of the optimized cycle with a super‐alloys‐recuperated heat exchanger could result in an additional efficiency increase of 1.1 percentage point and a specific work increase of 4.8–7.1%. The optimized cycles were about 3.3 percentage points higher in efficiency than the most efficient commercially available H‐system combined cycle when compared at the same value of TIT. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of evaporative inlet and aftercooling on the recuperated gas turbine cycle

Inlet air cooling and cooling of the compressor discharge using water injection boost both efficiency and power of gas turbine cycles. Four different layouts of the recuperated gas turbine cycle are presented. Those layouts include the effect of evaporative inlet and aftercooling (evaporative cooling of the compressor discharge). A parametric study of the effect of turbine inlet temperature (TIT), ambient temperature, and relative humidity on the performance of all four layouts is investigated. The results indicate that as TIT increases the optimum pressure ratio increases by 0.45 per 100 K for the regular recuperated cycle and by 1.4 per 100 K for the recuperated cycle with evaporative aftercooling. The cycles with evaporative aftercooling have distinctive pattern of performance curves and higher values of optimum pressure ratios. The results also showed that evaporative cooling of the inlet air could boost the efficiency by up to 3.2% and that evaporative aftercooling could increase the power by up to about 110% and cycle efficiency by up to 16%.     

Estimation of exergy-based sustainability index and performance evaluation of a novel intercooled hybrid gas turbine system

This paper contributes a novel sustainability index and modified exergy indicators for conventional gas turbines and solid oxide fuel cell integrated gas turbine (SOFC-GT) hybrid power cycles. In this work, an intercooled gas turbine (Ic-GT) cycle is considered as a base cycle, which gives an additive advantage in lowering the power required for the compressor. Moreover, on SOFC integration with Ic-GT, the qualitative and quantitative performance are examined. Numerical modeling is done using MATLAB and an exclusive comparison has been made based on energy-exergy and sustainability analysis for the system and its components. On comparing the first law efficiency at turbine inlet temperature, TIT 1250K and rp = 18 for Ic-GT, intercooled recuperated gas turbine (Ic-RGT), and Ic–SOFC–RGT, it is 25.82%, 36.04%, and 64.78%, respectively. Similarly, second law efficiency is 11.43%, 22.33%, and 61.11% and the overall sustainability index is 1.12, 1.28, and 2.57 for Ic-GT, Ic-RGT, and Ic–SOFC–RGT, respectively. Nine other modified exergy-based parameters are used to identify the role of fuel and product exergy and then compare the most affected component in three configurations.     

Analysis of the design of a pressurized SOFC hybrid system using a fixed gas turbine design

Design characteristics and performance of a pressurized solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) hybrid system using a fixed gas turbine (GT) design are analyzed. The gas turbine is assumed to exist prior to the hybrid system design and all the other components such as the SOFC module and auxiliary parts are assumed to be newly designed for the hybrid system. The off-design operation of the GT is modeled by the performance characteristics of the compressor and the turbine. In the SOFC module, internal reforming with anode gas recirculation is adopted. Variations of both the hybrid system performance and operating condition of the gas turbine with the design temperature of the SOFC were investigated. Special focus is directed on the shift of the gas turbine operating points from the original points. It is found that pressure loss at the fuel cell module and other components, located between the compressor and the turbine, shifts the operating point. This results in a decrease of the turbine inlet temperature at each compressor operating condition relative to the original temperature for the GT only system. Thus, it is difficult to obtain the original GT power. Two cell voltage cases and various degrees of temperature difference at the cell are considered and their influences on the system design characteristics and performance are comparatively analyzed.     

Energy and exergy analysis of steam cooled reheat gas–steam combined cycle

This paper deals with parametric energy and exergy analysis of reheat gas–steam combined cycle using closed-loop-steam-cooling. Of the blade cooling techniques, closed-loop-steam-cooling has been found to be superior to air-film cooling. The reheat gas–steam combined cycle plant with closed-loop-steam-cooling exhibits enhanced thermal efficiency (around 62%) and plant specific work as compared to basic steam–gas combined cycle with air-film cooling as well as closed-loop-steam cooling. Further, with closed-loop-steam-cooling, the plant efficiency, reaches an optimum value in higher range of compressor pressure ratio as compared to that in film air-cooling. It has also been concluded that reheat pressure is an important design parameter and its optimum value gives maximum plant efficiency.Component-wise inefficiencies of steam cooled-reheat gas–steam combined cycle based on the second-law-model (exergy analysis) have been found to be the maximum in combustion-chamber (≈30%), followed by that in gas turbine (≈4%).     

Thermo-economic optimization of an indirectly coupled solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine hybrid power plant

Power generation using gas turbine (GT) power plants operating on the Brayton cycle suffers from low efficiencies, resulting in poor fuel to power conversion. A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed for integration into a 10-MW GT power plant, operating at 30% efficiency, in order to improve system efficiencies and economics. The SOFC system is indirectly coupled to the GT, in order to minimize the disruption to the GT operation. A thermo-economic model is developed to simulate the hybrid power plant and to optimize its performance using the method of Lagrange Multipliers. It predicts an optimized power output of 18.9 MW at 48.5% efficiency, and a breakeven per-unit energy cost of USD 4.54 ¢ kW h⁻¹ for the hybrid system based on futuristic mass generation SOFC costs.     

Study on a novel solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine hybrid cycle system with CO2 capture

A novel solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)/gas turbine (GT) hybrid cycle system with CO₂ capture is proposed based on a typical topping cycle SOFC/GT hybrid system. The H₂ gas is separated from the outlet mixture gas of SOFC1 anode by employing the advanced ceramic proton membrane technology, and then, it is injected into SOFC2 to continue a new electrochemical reaction. The outlet gas of SOFC1 cathode and the exhaust gas from SOFC2 burn in the afterburner 1. The combustion gas production of the afterburner1 expands in the turbine 1. The outlet gas of SOFC1 anode employs the oxy‐fuel combustion mode in the afterburner 2 after H₂ gas is separated. Then, the combustion gas production expands in the turbine 2. To ensure that the flue gas temperature does not exceed the maximum allowed turbine inlet temperature, steam is injected into the afterburner 2. The outlet gas of the afterburner 2 contains all the CO₂ gas of the system. When the steam is removed by condensation, the CO₂ gas can be captured. The steam generated by the waste heat boiler is used to drive a refrigerator and make CO₂ gas liquefied at a lower temperature. The performance of the novel quasi‐zero CO₂ emission SOFC/GT hybrid cycle system is analyzed with a case study. The effects of key parameters, such as CO₂ liquefaction temperature, hydrogen separation rate, and the unit oxygen production energy consumption on the new system performance, are investigated. Compared with the other quasi‐zero CO₂ emission power systems, the new system has the highest efficiency of around 64.13%. The research achievements will provide the valuable reference for further study of quasi‐zero CO₂ emission power system with high efficiency. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Part load operation of SOFC/GT hybrid systems: Stationary analysis

In a global energetic context characterized by the increasing demand of oil and gas, the depletion of fossil resources and the global warming, more efficient energy systems and, consequently, innovative energy conversion processes are urgently required. A possible solution can be found in the fuel cells technology coupled with classical thermodynamic cycle technologies in order to make hybrid systems able to achieve high energy/power efficiency with low environmental impact. Moreover, due to the synergistic effect of using a high temperature fuel cell such as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a recuperative gas turbine (GT), the integrated system efficiency can be significantly improved. In this paper a steady zero dimensional model of a SOFC/GT hybrid system is presented. The core of the work consists of a performance analysis focused on the influence of the GT part load functioning on the overall system efficiency maintaining the SOFC power set to the nominal one. Also the proper design and management of the heat recovery section is object of the present study, with target a global electric efficiency almost constant in part load functioning respect to nominal operation. The results of this study have been used as basis to the development of a dynamic model, presented in the following part of the study focused on the plant dynamic analysis.     

Cycle analysis of an integrated solid oxide fuel cell and recuperative gas turbine with an air reheating system

Cycle simulation and analysis for two kinds of SOFC/GT hybrid systems were conducted with the help of the simulation tool: Aspen Custom Modeler. Two cycle schemes of recuperative heat exchanger (RHE) and exhaust gas recirculated (EGR) were described according to the air reheating method. The system performance with operating pressure, turbine inlet temperature and fuel cell load were studied based on the simulation results. Then the effects of oxygen utilization, fuel utilization, operating temperature and efficiencies of the gas turbine components on the system performance of the RHE cycle and the EGR cycle were discussed in detail. Simulation results indicated that the system optimum efficiency for the EGR air reheating cycle scheme was higher than that of the RHE cycle system. A higher pressure ratio would be available for the EGR cycle system in comparison with the RHE cycle. It was found that increasing fuel utilization or oxygen utilization would decrease fuel cell efficiency but improve the system efficiency for both of the RHE and EGR cycles. The efficiency of the RHE cycle hybrid system decreased as the fuel cell air inlet temperature increased. However, the system efficiency of EGR cycle increased with fuel cell air inlet temperature. The effect of turbine efficiency on the system efficiency was more obvious than the effect of the compressor and recuperator efficiencies among the gas turbine components. It was also indicated that improving the gas turbine component efficiencies for the RHE cycle increased system efficiency higher than that for the EGR cycle.     

A combined power cycle with absorption air conditioning

A cogeneration scheme comprising a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) with an absorption chiller used for space cooling is studied. A parametric study investigating the effect of different parameters, such as steam to gas mass flow rate ratio, fraction of turbine steam extraction, ambient temperature, inlet steam turbine temperature, compressor pressure ratio, and gas turbine (GT) combustion efficiency on the performance of the system has been made. In another aspect of the study, the relative advantage of using CCPP with absorption cooling over thermally equivalent mechanical vapor compression (MVC) cooling is also demonstrated.     

Performance characteristics of a MW-class SOFC/GT hybrid system based on a commercially available gas turbine

The ultimate purpose of a SOFC/GT hybrid system is for distributed power generation applications. Therefore, this study investigates the possible extension of a SOFC/GT hybrid system to multi-MW power cases. Because of the matured technology of gas turbines and their commercial availability, it was reasonable to construct a hybrid system with an off-the-shelf gas turbine. Based on a commercially available gas turbine, performance analysis was conducted to find the total appropriate power for the hybrid system with consideration of the maximum allowable cell temperature. In order to maintain high performance characteristics of the hybrid system during part-load operations, it was necessary to find the optimal control strategy for the system according to the change in power required. The results of the performance analysis for part-load conditions showed that supplied fuel and air must be changed simultaneously. Furthermore, in order to prevent performance degradation, it was found that both cell temperature and turbine inlet temperature must be maintained as close as possible to design-point conditions.