Evaluation of fuel diversity in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell system

Abstract

Operability of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) on numerous fuels has been widely counted as a leading advantage in literature. In a designed system, however, switching from a fuel to another is not practically a straightforward task as this causes several system performance issues in both dynamic and steady-state modes. In order to demonstrate the system fuel diversity capabilities, these consequences must be well-evaluated by quantifying the characteristic measures for numerous fuel cases and also potential combinations. From this viewpoint, the numerical predictive models play a critical role. This paper aims to investigate the performance of a SOFC system fed by various fuels using a demonstrated system level model. Process configuration and streams results of a real-life SOFC system rig published in literature are used to validate the model. The presented model is capable not only of capturing the system performance measures but also the SOFC internal variable distributions, allowing the multiscale study of fuel switching scenarios. The fuel change impacts on the system are simulated by considering various fuel sources, i.e., natural gas, biogas, and syngas. Moreover, applications of simulated fuel mixtures are assessed. The modelling results show significant concerns about fuel switching in a system in terms of variation of efficiencies, stack internal temperature and current density homogeneity, and environmental issues. Moreover, the results reveal opportunities for multi-fuel design to address the operation and application requirements such as optimisation of the anode off-gas recycling rate and the thermal-to-electrical ratio as well as the system specific greenhouse gases, i.e., g-COx/Wh release.

System Level Exergy Assessment of Strategies Deployed for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack Temperature Regulation and Thermal Gradient Reduction

“…The simulator has already been validated against a real-life SOFC system rig approving its capability of a multi-scale performances capturing of the SOFC system. 30 The platform capability and fidelity for estimating the BoP mass and energy balances and the stack internal profiles have been demonstrated and validated in our previous research. 29 The simulated process flowsheet was selected to be rather comprehensive encompassing the main sub-processes of a SOFC plant including fuel conditioning, power generation through electrochemical process, depleted-fuel combustion and the heat recovery units that are the most likely elements of the system for the commercialization in short-term 31 .…”

Hydrogen Storage for Mobility: A Review

“…Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are perhaps the most interesting candidate for methane conversion [202]. One of the promising characteristics of SOFCs is their fuel flexibility [203]. Given the modest energy density of methane, other candidates should be considered for chemical hydrogen storage.…”

Numerical Study on the Performance of a Cogeneration System of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Based on Biomass Gasification

“…Dey et al (2014) studied the influence of different types of biomass raw materials on the BG-SOFC system, and the results showed that bagasse showed the best performance in the mixed system. Amiri et al (2018) simulated the impact of fuel changes on the performance of the co-generation system by considering various fuel sources (such as natural gas, biogas, and syngas). The results show that fuel changes may seriously affect the consistency of the overall performance index of the system.…”