Exergy & economic analysis of biogas fueled solid oxide fuel cell systems

Significance of anaerobic digestion as a source of clean energy in wastewater treatment plants

“…Hence, a proper biogas cleaning unit is required that could increase significantly the operational cost [29]. Nevertheless, the economic analysis showed that SOFCs could successfully compete with other cogeneration technologies shortly [30,31]. C TS -total carbon, N TS -total nitrogen, S TS -total sulphur and LCV -low calorific value of the TS.…”

Anode gas recirculation for improving the performance and cost of a 5-kW solid oxide fuel cell system

“…Some economic studies have evaluated these systems using exergy analysis, a highly useful method for assessing the thermodynamic potential of a system theoretically. Several previous works have investigated the potential of SOFC systems using exergy analysis [1,2], whereas others have focused on the actual material cost of the system [3,4]. However, few studies have focused on the capital cost needed to popularize SOFC systems [5], and none have utilized economic analysis to estimate the acceptable upper limit of their costs and compare a power supply from an SOFC system with an on-demand supply from a power grid.…”

Evaluation of a pilot-scale sewage biogas powered 2.8 kWe Solid Oxide Fuel Cell: Assessment of heat-to-power ratio and influence of oxygen content

“…Two relevant examples are the 1.4 MW e MCFC unit installed in 2012 at a WWTP in California [16] and the planned 0.2 MW e MCFC at Wyoming WWTP [17,18]. However, technical limitations of MCFC and PAFC as a result of the use of liquid electrolytes and their high investment costs (6000e14,000 V/kW e; compared to 800e1000 V/ kW e of internal combustion engines) have made their industrial application still very limited [19].…”

“…Today, SOFC appear to be a suitable for the application of biogas [20] as a result of the significant potential for reducing the investment cost through the development of new ceramic materials [18,21]. The first pilot plant (1.5 kW e ) producing electricity and heat supplied by a SOFC biogas from the anaerobic fermentation of agricultural residues was operated in Germany before 2000.…”