Dynamic modeling and evaluation of solid oxide fuel cell - combined heat and power system operating strategies

Operating strategies of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) combined heat and power (CHP) systems are developed and evaluated from a utility, and end-user perspective using a fully integrated SOFC-CHP system dynamic model that resolves the physical states, thermal integration and overall efficiency of the system. The model can be modified for any SOFC-CHP system, but the present analysis is applied to a hotel in southern California based on measured electric and heating loads. Analysis indicates that combined heat and power systems can be operated to benefit both the end-users and the utility, providing more efficient electric generation as well as grid ancillary services, namely dispatchable urban power.Design and operating strategies considered in the paper include optimal sizing of the fuel cell, thermal energy storage to dispatch heat, and operating the fuel cell to provide flexible grid power. Analysis results indicate that with a 13.1% average increase in price-of-electricity (POE), the system can provide the grid with a 50% operating range of dispatchable urban power at an overall thermal efficiency of 80%. This grid-support operating mode increases the operational flexibility of the SOFC-CHP system, which may make the technology an important utility asset for accommodating the increased penetration of intermittent renewable power.     

Suitable operational strategy for power interchange operation using multiple residential SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) cogeneration systems

A suitable operational strategy for a power interchange operation using multiple residential solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cogeneration systems for saving energy is investigated by an optimization approach based on mixed-integer linear programming. In this power interchange operation, electricity generated by residential SOFC cogeneration systems is shared among households in a housing complex without allowing a reverse power flow to a commercial electric power system in order to increase electric load factors of the system. For an SOFC cogeneration system operated continuously with the minimum output, two types of operational strategies for the power interchange operation are adopted: an operation to meet the total demand for electricity in intended households by the electricity output of SOFC cogeneration systems and an operation to meet the demand for hot water in each household by the hot water output of the SOFC cogeneration system. To clarify a theoretical limit of the energy-saving effects of the two strategies, this study numerically analyzes optimal operation patterns for 20 households on three representative days. The results show that the former operational strategy, which takes advantage of the high electricity generating efficiency of the SOFC, is more suitable for saving energy as compared to the latter strategy.     

Cost-effective operating strategy for residential micro-combined heat and power

It is commonly assumed that dispatch of micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) should be heat driven, where the unit turns on when a heat load is present, and turns off or modulates when there is little or no heat demand. However, this heat led operating strategy—typical of large-scale CHP applications—may not be economically justified as scale decreases. This article investigates cost-effective operating strategies for three micro-CHP technologies; Stirling engine, gas engine, and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), under reasonable estimates of energy prices. The cost of meeting a typical UK residential energy demand is calculated for hypothetical heat led and electricity led operating strategies, and compared with that of an optimal strategy. Using central estimates of price parameters, and with some thermal energy storage present in the system, it is shown that the least cost operating strategy for the three technologies is to follow heat and electricity load during winter months, rather than using either heat demand or electricity demand as the only dispatch signal. Least cost operating strategy varies between technologies in summer months. In terms of environmental outcomes, the least cost operating strategy does not always result in the lowest carbon dioxide emissions. The results obtained are sensitive to electricity buy-back rate.     

Solid oxide fuel cell systems for distributed power generation and cogeneration

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising technology for decentralized power generation and cogeneration. This technology has several advantages: the high electric efficiency, which can be theoretically improved through integration in power cycles; the low emissions; and the possibility of using a large variety of gaseous fuels.     

Analysis of total energy system based on solid oxide fuel cell for combined cooling and power applications

A total energy system (TES) incorporating a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and an exhaust gas driven absorption chiller (AC) is presented to provide power, cooling and/or heating simultaneously. The purpose for using the absorption chiller is to recover the exhaust heat from the SOFC exhaust gas for enhancing the energy utilization efficiency of the TES. A steady-state mathematical model is developed to simulate the effects of different operating conditions of SOFC, such as the fuel utilization factor and average current density, on the performance of the TES by using the MATLAB softpackage. Parametric analysis shows that both electrical efficiency and total efficiency of the TES have maximum values with variation of the fuel utilization factor; while the cooling efficiency increases, the electrical efficiency and total efficiency decrease with increase in the current density of SOFC. The simulated results could provide useful knowledge for the design and optimization of the proposed total energy system.     

Multi-loop control strategy of a solid oxide fuel cell and micro gas turbine hybrid system

Solid oxide fuel cell and micro gas turbine (SOFC/MGT) hybrid system is a promising distributed power technology. In order to ensure the system safe operation as well as long lifetime of the fuel cell, an effective control manner is expected to regulate the temperature and fuel utilization at the desired level, and track the desired power output. Thus, a multi-loop control strategy for the hybrid system is investigated in this paper. A mathematical model for the SOFC/MGT hybrid system is built firstly. Based on the mathematical model, control cycles are introduced and their design is discussed. Part load operation condition is employed to investigate the control strategies for the system. The dynamic modeling and control implementation are realized in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, and the simulation results show that it is feasible to build the multi-loop control methods for the SOFC/MGT hybrid system with regard to load disturbances.     

固体氧化物燃料电池与燃气轮机混合发电系统

基于固体氧化物燃料电池系统的高效率、环保性以及排气废热的巨大利用潜能,将其与燃气轮机组成混合发电装置,是一种极有前景的分布式发电方案.文章以SWP公司的加压型SOFC-小型燃气轮机混合循环系统为例,对固体氧化物燃料电池及燃气轮机混合循环系统的原理及发展现状作了分析,为我国固体氧化物燃料电池-燃气轮机混合循环系统的研制提供参考.     

Design of a PEM fuel cell system for residential application

Fuel cells are energy transformation technologies and they are clean, don't damage to environment, have high efficiency and provide uninterruptible energy generation. Research and development studies about fuel cells have been done increasingly. In the recent years, fuel cell technologies have performed in some sectors such as military, industrial, space, portable, residential, transportation and trading.     

Evaluation of hydrogen and methane-fuelled solid oxide fuel cell systems for residential applications: System design alternative and parameter study

Design-point and part-load characteristics of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system, fuelled by methane and hydrogen, are investigated for its prospective use in the residential application. As a part of this activity, a detailed SOFC cell model is developed, evaluated and extended to a stack model. Models of all the required balance of plant components are also developed and are integrated to build a system model. Using this model, two system base cases for methane and hydrogen fuels are introduced. Cogeneration relevant performance figures are investigated for different system configurations and cell parameters i.e. fuel utilization, fuel flow rate, operation voltage and extent of internal fuel reforming. The results show high combined heat and power efficiencies for both cases, with higher thermal-to-electric ratio and lower electric efficiency for the hydrogen-fuelled cases. Performance improvements with radiation air pre-heaters and anode gas recycling are presented and the respective application limits discussed.     

Efficiency analyses of ethanol-fueled solid oxide fuel cell power system

In this study, the balance of plant (BOP) of an ethanol-fueled SOFC is analyzed using the GCTool software package developed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The effects of the excess air ratio and fuel utilization on the electric and heat efficiencies of the SOFC are systematically examined for two reforming methods (steam reforming and auto-thermal reforming) and two flow sheets (BOP A and BOP B). In BOP A, the cathode off-gas is passed directly to the afterburner together with the unreacted fuel, and the hot flue gas exiting the burner is then used to provide the thermal energy required for the ethanol reforming process. In BOP B, the cathode off-gas is passed through a heat exchanger in order to heat the ethanol fuel prior to the reforming process, and is then flowed into the burner with the unreacted fuel. The results show that given an SOFC inlet temperature of 650 °C, a fuel utilization of 70.2% and excess air ratios of 4, 6 and 7, respectively, the overall system efficiency is equal to 74.9%, 72.3% and 71.0%. In general, the results presented in this study provide a useful starting point for the design and development of practical ethanol-fueled SOFC test systems.     

Thermodynamic analysis of a new combined cooling, heat and power system driven by solid oxide fuel cell based on ammonia-water mixture

Although a solid oxide fuel cell combined with a gas turbine (SOFC-GT) has good performance, the temperature of exhaust from gas turbine is still relatively high. In order to recover the waste heat of exhaust from the SOFC-GT to enhance energy conversion efficiency as well as to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants, in this study a new combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system driven by the SOFC is proposed to perform the trigeneration by using ammonia-water mixture to recover the waste heat of exhaust from the SOFC-GT. The CCHP system, whose main fuel is methane, can generate electricity, cooling effect and heat effect simultaneously. The overall system performance has been evaluated by mathematical models and thermodynamic laws. A parametric analysis is also conducted to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters on the system performance. Results indicate that the overall energy conversion efficiency exceeds 80% under the given conditions, and it is also found that the increasing the fuel flow rate can improve overall energy conversion efficiency, even though both the SOFC efficiency and electricity efficiency decrease. Moreover, with an increased compressor pressure ratio, the SOFC efficiency, electricity efficiency and overall energy conversion efficiency all increase. Ammonia concentration and pressure entering ammonia-water turbine can also affect the CCHP system performance.     

Solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine trigeneration system for marine applications

Shipping contributes 4.5% to global CO₂ emissions and is not covered by the Kyoto Agreement. One method of reducing CO₂ emissions on land is combined cooling heating and power (CCHP) or trigeneration, with typical combined thermal efficiencies of over 80%. Large luxury yachts are seen as an ideal entry point to the off-shore market for this developing technology considering its current high cost.This paper investigates the feasibility of combining a SOFC-GT system and an absorption heat pump (AHP) in a trigeneration system to drive the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and electrical base-load systems. A thermodynamic model is used to simulate the system, with various configurations and cooling loads. Measurement of actual yacht performance data forms the basis of this system simulation.It is found that for the optimum configuration using a double effect absorption chiller in Ship 1, the net electric power increases by 47% relative to the electrical power available for a conventional SOFC-GT-HVAC system. This is due to more air cooled to a lower temperature by absorption cooling; hence less electrical cooling by the conventional HVAC unit is required. The overall efficiency is 12.1% for the conventional system, 34.9% for the system with BROAD single effect absorption chiller, 43.2% for the system with double effect absorption chiller. This shows that the overall efficiency of a trigeneration system is far higher when waste heat recovery happens.The desiccant wheel hardly reduces moisture from the outdoor air due to a relative low mass flow rate of fuel cell exhaust available to dehumidify a very large mass flow rate of HVAC air, Hence, desiccant wheel is not recommended for this application.     

A concept of combined cooling,heating and power system utilising solar power and based on reversible solid oxide fuel cell and metal hydrides

In energy systems, multi-generation including co-generation and tri-generation has gained tremendous interest in the recent years as an effective way of waste heat recovery. Solid oxide fuel cells are efficient power plants that not only generate electricity with high energy efficiency but also produce high quality waste heat that can be further used for hot and chilled water production. In this work, we present a concept of combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) energy system which uses solar power as a primary energy source and utilizes a reversible solid oxide fuel cell (R-SOFC) for producing hydrogen and generating electricity in the electrolyser (SOEC) and fuel cell (SOFC) modes, respectively. The system uses “high temperature” metal hydride (MH) for storage of both hydrogen and heat, as well as “low temperature” MH's for the additional heat management, including hot water supply, residential heating during winter time, or cooling/air conditioning during summer time.The work presents evaluation of energy balances of the system components, as well as heat-and-mass transfer modelling of MH beds in metal hydride hydrogen and heat storage system (MHHS; MgH₂), MH hydrogen compressor (MHHC; AB₅; A = La + Mm, BNi + Co + Al + Mn) and MH heat pump (MHHP; AB₂; A = Ti + Zr, BMn + Cr + Ni + Fe). A case study of a 3 kWe R-SOFC is analysed and discussed. The results showed that the energy efficiencies are 69.4 and 72.4% in electrolyser and fuel cell modes, respectively. The round-trip COP's of metal hydride heat management system (MHHC + MHHP) are close to 40% for both heating and cooling outputs. Moreover, the tri-generation leads to an improvement of 36% in round-trip energy efficiency as compared to that of a stand-alone R-SOFC.     

Solid oxide fuel cell technology for sustainable development in China: An over-view

Fuel cell technology motivates a variety of benefits, which are barely offered by other energy technologies. The fuel cell can be obtained through natural resources—biomass, coal and water, which are abundant in China. More importantly, most of these are sustainable and realize ecological circulation. Being blessed with a source of renewable energy, fuel cell technology is favorably promoted in China. Simultaneously, fuel cell technology offers China great opportunities to meet the energy consumption demand for its sustainable development. In this proposed method, useful results of leading research in solid oxide fuel cell relevant research in China are reviewed and the hybrid system based fuel cell technology is particularly detailed. Additionally, the effects of some important renewable energy parameters, future challenges and constructive recommendations for China's energy technology are suggested.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a combined ammonia-fed solid oxide fuel cell system for vehicular applications

In this study, both energetic and exergetic performances of a combined heat and power (CHP) system for vehicular applications are evaluated. This system proposes ammonia-fed solid oxide fuel cells based on proton conducting electrolyte (SOFC-H⁺) with a heat recovery option. Fuel consumption of combined fuel cell and energy storage system is investigated for several cases. The performance of the portable SOFC system is studied in a wide range of the cell’s average current densities and fuel utilization ratios. Considering a heat recovery option, the system exergy efficiency is calculated to be 60-90% as a function of current density, whereas energy efficiency varies between 60 and 40%, respectively. The largest exergy destructions take place in the SOFC stack, micro-turbine, and first heat exchanger. The entropy generation rate in the CHP system shows a 25% decrease for every 100 °C increase in average operating temperature.     

Effects of heat sources on the performance of a planar solid oxide fuel cell

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of heat sources on performance of a planar anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Heat sources in SOFCs include ohmic heat losses, heat released by chemical and electrochemical processes and radiation. We take into account the first three types of heat source here while neglecting the last type as it is supposed to be negligibly small. The cell is working under conditions of direct internal reforming of methane and with co-flow configuration. The composite electrodes are discretized allowing the heat source associated with the electrochemical processes to be implemented in a layer of finite thickness. Two cases are investigated, one where the electrochemical heat source is implemented on the anode side (base case) and another where it is implemented on the cathode side.     

The analyses of the heat-up process of a planar, anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell using the dual-channel heating strategy

In the present study, a finite-volume (FV) model has been developed to investigate the thermal behavior, the heat-up time and the corresponding temperature gradient for an anode-supported planar SOFC during the heat-up process. A methane burner is employed for the heat-up of the SOFC. Effects of the burner power and the flow configuration on the temperature distribution, the effective maximum-temperature-gradient, the heat-up time and the required energy in the heat-up process are investigated. The numerical results obtained from the present study show that the single-channel mode is impractical for the SOFC heat-up due to the lengthy heat-up time. For a fixed-power burner, the required heat-up time for the counter-flow configuration is about 25% less than that of the co-flow configuration. For the counter-flow configuration, the temperature gradient is averagely about 17% larger than that for the co-flow configuration. The total energy required for the counter-flow configuration is about 20% less than that for the co-flow configuration. The counter-flow configuration is superior to the others as far as the heat-up time and the required energy are concerned, although it yields a relatively higher maximum-temperature-gradient.     

Effects of methane processing strategy on fuel composition,electrical and thermal efficiency of solid oxide fuel cell

Natural gas is a cheap and abundant fuel for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), generally integrating the SOFC system with methane pre-treating system for improving the stability of SOFC. In this paper, the accurate effects of methane processing strategy on fuel composition, electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency of SOFC are investigated based on the thermodynamic equilibrium. Steam reforming of methane is an endothermic process and can produce 3 mol of H₂ and 1 mol of CO from 1 mol of methane, and thus the electrical efficiency of SOFC is high at the same O/C ratio and equivalent fuel utilization, whereas the thermal efficiency is low. On the contrary, partial oxidation of methane is an exothermal process and only produces 2 mol of H₂ and 1 mol of CO from 1 mol of methane, and thus the electrical efficiency of SOFC is low at the same O/C ratio and equivalent fuel utilization, whereas the thermal efficiency is high. When the O/C ratio is 1.5, the electrical efficiency of SOFC is 55.3% for steam reforming of methane, while 32.7% for partial oxidation of methane. High electrical efficiency of SOFC can be achieved and carbon deposition can be depressed by selecting suitable O/C ratio from methane pretreatment according to the accurate calculation and analysis of effects of different methane processing strategies on the electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency of SOFC.     

Thermal stress modeling of anode supported micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell

An anode-supported micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is analyzed by a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical model, which is validated with the experimental I-V data. The temperature distribution generated by the thermo-electrochemical model is used to calculate the thermal stress field in the tubular SOFC. The results indicate that the current transport in the anode is the same at every investigated position. The stress of the micro-tubular cell occurs mainly because of the residual stress due to the mismatch between the coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials of the membrane electrode assembly. The micro-tubular cell can operate safely, but if there is an interfacial defect or a high enough tensile stress applied at the electrolyte, a failure can arise.     

Gas transport in hydrogen electrode of solid oxide regenerative fuel cells for power generation and hydrogen production

To further develop solid oxide regenerative fuel cell (SORFC) technology, the effect of gas diffusion in the hydrogen electrode on the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is investigated. The hydrogen electrode-supported cells are fabricated and tested under various operating conditions in both the power generation and hydrogen production modes. A transport model based on the dusty-gas model is developed to analyze the multi-component diffusion process in the porous media, and the transport parameters are obtained by applying the experimentally measured limiting current data to the model. The structural parameters of the porous electrode, such as porosity and tortuosity, are derived using the Chapman–Enskogg model and microstructural image analysis. The performance of an SOEC is strongly influenced by the gas diffusion limitation at the hydrogen electrode, and the limiting current density of an SOEC is substantially lower than that of an SOFC for the standard cell structure under normal operating conditions. The pore structure of the hydrogen electrode is optimized by using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), a pore-forming agent, and consequently, the hydrogen production rate of the SOEC is improved by a factor of greater than two under moderate humidity conditions.