Feasibility of solid oxide fuel cell dynamic hydrogen coproduction to meet building demand

Abstract

h i g h l i g h t sA dynamic internal reforming-solid oxide fuel cell system model is developed. Electricity and hydrogen coproduction to meet dynamic building demand is modeled. The co-producing system well follows the measured building electric load dynamics. Dynamic operation of an SOFC system for co-producing hydrogen is demonstrated. Thermal and tank filling responses to dynamic operation are presented. a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tA dynamic internal reforming-solid oxide fuel cell system model is developed and used to simulate the coproduction of electricity and hydrogen while meeting the measured dynamic load of a typical southern California commercial building. The simulated direct internal reforming-solid oxide fuel cell (DIR-SOFC) system is controlled to become an electrical load following device that well follows the measured building load data (3-s resolution). The feasibility of the DIR-SOFC system to meet the dynamic building demand while co-producing hydrogen is demonstrated. The resulting thermal responses of the system to the electrical load dynamics as well as those dynamics associated with the filling of a hydrogen collection tank are investigated. The DIR-SOFC system model also allows for resolution of the fuel cell species and temperature distributions during these dynamics since thermal gradients are a concern for DIR-SOFC.

Economic analysis of fuel cell installations at commercial buildings including regional pricing and complementary technologies

“…The primary difference to a building site with either of these control strategies is the installation of a larger fuel cell system that is not continuously operated at full capacity. Both diurnal dispatch and load following control strategies have previously been shown to be feasible for high temperature fuel cells [4,5].…”

“…The aim of this paper is to perform sensitivity analyses of the primary factors influencing the economic viability of stationary fuel cell systems for commercial buildings in the United States. Some of the important factors identified by others and that are also considered here include: commercial electricity and gas rates [2], time-of-use and demand charges, building dynamics, climate impacts, fuel cell control capability [3][4][5], and balance of system components such as thermal or electric energy storage [6,7] and absorption chiller heat recovery [8,9].…”

“…Analyses of stationary fuel cell systems have often considered only the electric output, while some have included an SOFC with hydrogen co-production [4], electric energy storage [7], thermal storage [28] or absorption chilling [8]. Some limited sensitivity studies suggested a strong dependence upon the relative costs of electricity and natural gas, the presence of net-metering tariffs, and additional CHP systems e.g.…”

“…Some limited sensitivity studies suggested a strong dependence upon the relative costs of electricity and natural gas, the presence of net-metering tariffs, and additional CHP systems e.g. electric and thermal storage [4]. Absorption chillers were shown to be well suited for thermodynamic integration with high temperature fuel cells although the economic benefit is undetermined [9].…”

Development of an open access tool for design, simulated dispatch, and economic assessment of distributed generation technologies

“…The steps include specifying the characteristics of the building where DG will be applied, selecting the DG system and complementary technologies, entering the local energy costs, and deciding upon a control strategy. The open-access 1 software named the Distributed Generation Build-out Economic Assessment Tool or DG-BEAT packages previous research and development results and capabilities in building dynamics [7,8] and distributed energy resource dynamics and control [9,10]. Combined with detailed historical data on energy costs and emissions, DG-BEAT provides a powerful analysis tool for small stationary power installations.…”