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An integrated process configuration of solid oxide fuel/electrolyzer cells (SOFC-SOEC) and solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for cogeneration applications

Khalili, M ; Sharif University of Technology | 2021

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1002/er.6587
  3. Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd , 2021
  4. Abstract:
  5. This research work presents a novel integrated structure for the cogeneration of electricity and renewable syngas. The base structure of the process is developed by solid oxide cells in which electricity is generated by the natural gas-fueled fuel cell unit, and renewable syngas is produced by the electrolyzer cell unit. Direct integration between fuel cell and electrolyzer cell units is established for optimal use of fuel cell off-gases. To improve system's sustainability, a solar power cycle, including solar collectors coupled with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), is designed to provide renewable electricity for steam and CO2 co-electrolysis operation. 1D mathematical approaches are developed in Aspen Custom Modeler to predict concentration, temperature, and current density distributions inside fuel cell and electrolyzer cell units. Moreover, to verify the accuracy of the used approaches, equations, and models, a comprehensive validation is carried out with literature. Also, a qualitative structural comparison is made with the simultaneous electricity and hydrogen production concept existing in the literature. The parametric study shows that the fuel cell unit efficiencies have a direct relation with the fuel utilization factor, while the overall efficiencies of the plant change inversely. Also, the study of the effects of electrolyzer voltage and turbine inlet pressure shows that the proposed plant is more efficient at lower voltages and higher pressures. At the design conditions, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the fuel cell unit can reach 51.71% and 49.63%, respectively. Also, the renewable syngas production unit has an energy efficiency of 12.96% and an exergy efficiency of 17.30%. Moreover, the overall efficiencies of the plant are calculated as 20.14% and 30.28% from energy and exergy viewpoints, respectively. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
  6. Keywords:
  7. Electric power generation ; Electrolysis ; Electrolytic cells ; Energy efficiency ; Exergy ; Hydrogen production ; Natural gasoline plants ; Nuclear fuels ; Rankine cycle ; Regenerative fuel cells ; Solar power plants ; Synthesis gas ; Synthesis gas manufacture ; Current density distribution ; Energy and exergy efficiency ; Mathematical approach ; Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC) ; Process configuration ; Solar organic Rankine cycle ; Structural comparison ; Turbine inlet pressure ; Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC)
  8. Source: International Journal of Energy Research ; Volume 45, Issue 7 , 2021 , Pages 11018-11040 ; 0363907X (ISSN)
  9. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/er.6587