Energy and exergy analyses of a combined molten carbonate fuel cell - Gas turbine system

This study deals with the thermodynamic analysis of molten carbonate fuel cell combined with a gas turbine, based on the first- and second-law of thermodynamics. The mass, energy, entropy and exergy balance equations are written and applied to the system and its components. Some parametric studies are performed to investigate the change of system performance through energy and exergy efficiencies with the change of operating conditions. The irreversibilities occuring in different devices of the integrated system are also investigated through the exergy destruction analysis in these devices. The maximum output work of the MCFC is estimated to be 314.3 kW for an operating temperature of 650 °C. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies achieved for this system are 42.89% and 37.75%, respectively.     

Thermodynamic performance analysis of a molten carbonate fuel cell at very high current densities

This study is basically composed of two sections. In the first section, a CFD analysis is used to provide a better insight to molten carbonate fuel cell operation and performance characteristics at very high current densities. Therefore, a mathematical model is developed by employing mass and momentum conservation, electrochemical reaction mechanisms and electric charges. The model results are then compared with the available data for an MCFC unit, and a good agreement is observed. In addition, the model is applied to predict the unit cell behaviour at various operating pressures, temperatures, and cathode gas stoichiometric ratios. In the second section, a thermodynamic model is utilized to examine energy efficiency, exergy efficiency and entropy generation of the MCFC. At low current densities, no considerable difference in output voltage and power is observed; however, for greater values of current densities, the difference is not negligible. If the molten carbonate fuel cell is to operate at current densities smaller than 2500 A m⁻², there is no point to pressurize the system. If the fuel cell operates at pressures greater than atmospheric pressure, the unit cell cost could be minimized. In addition, various partial pressure ratios at the cathode side demonstrated nearly the same effect on the performance of the fuel cell. With a 60 K change in operating temperature, almost 10% improvement in energy and exergy efficiencies is obtained. Both efficiencies initially increase at lower current densities and then reach their maximum values and ultimately decrease with the increase of current density. By elevating the pressure, both energy and exergy efficiencies of the cell enhance. In addition, higher operating pressure and temperature decrease the unit cell entropy generation.     

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.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a hybrid system containing solid oxide and molten carbonate fuel cells,a gas turbine,and a compressed air energy storage unit

Design of a hybrid system composed of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), gas turbine (GT), and an advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (AA-CAES) based on only energy analysis could not completely identify optimal operating conditions. In this study, the energy and exergy analyses of the hybrid fuel cell system are performed to determine suitable working conditions for stable system operation with load flexibility. Pressure ratios of the compressors and energy charging ratios are varied to investigate their effects on the performance of the hybrid system. The hybrid fuel cell system is found to produce electricity up to 60% of the variation in demand. A GT pressure ratio of 2 provides agreeable conditions for efficient operation of the hybrid system. An AA-CAES pressure ratio of 15 and charging ratio of 0.9 assist in lengthening the discharging time during a high load demand based on an electricity variation of 50%.     

The control strategy for a molten carbonate fuel cell hybrid system

Based on mathematical modelling and numerical simulations, the control strategy for a molten carbonate fuel cell hybrid system (MCFC-HS) is presented. Adequate maps of performances with three independent parameters are shown. The independent parameters are as follows: stack current, fuel mass flow and compressor outlet pressure. Those parameters can be controlled by external load, fuel valve and turbine–compressor shaft speed, respectively.     

Analysis of a solid oxide fuel cell and a molten carbonate fuel cell integrated system with different configurations

A solid oxide fuel cell with internal reforming operation is run at partial fuel utilization; thus, the remaining fuel can be further used for producing additional power. In addition, the exhaust gas of a solid oxide fuel cell still contains carbon dioxide, which is the primary greenhouse gas, and identifying a way to utilize this carbon dioxide is important. Integrating the solid oxide fuel cell with the molten carbonate fuel cell is a potential solution for carbon dioxide utilization. In this study, the performance of the integrated fuel cell system is analyzed. The solid oxide fuel cell is the main power generator, and the molten carbonate fuel cell is regarded as a carbon dioxide concentrator that produces electricity as a by-product. Modeling of the solid oxide fuel cell and the molten carbonate fuel cell is based on one-dimensional mass balance, considering all cell voltage losses. Primary operating conditions of the integrated fuel cell system that affect the system efficiencies in terms of power generation and carbon dioxide utilization are studied, and the optimal operating parameters are identified based on these criteria. Various configurations of the integrated fuel cell system are proposed and compared to determine the suitable design of the integrated fuel cell system.     

Performance assessment of a hybrid solid oxide and molten carbonate fuel cell system with compressed air energy storage under different power demands

As electricity demand can vary considerably and unpredictably, it is necessary to integrate energy storage with power generation systems. This study investigates a solid oxide and molten carbonate fuel cell system integrated with a gas turbine (GT) for power generation. The advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (AA-CAES) system is designed to enhance the system flexibility. Simulations of the proposed power system are performed to demonstrate the amount of power that can supply to the loads during normal and peak modes of operation under steady-state conditions. The pressure ratios of the GT and AA-CAES and the additional air feed are used to design the system and analyze the system performance. The results show that a small additional air feed to the GT is certainly required for the hybrid system. The GT pressure ratio of 2 provides a maximum benefit. The AA-CAES pressure ratio of 5 is recommended to spare some air in the storage and minimize storage volume. Moreover, implementation of the GT and AA-CAES into the integrated fuel cell system allows the system to cope with the variations in power demand.     

Lifetime optimization of a molten carbonate fuel cell power system coupled with hydrogen production

In this paper, a biogas fuelled energy system for combined production of electricity and hydrogen is considered. The system is based on a molten carbonate fuel cell stack integrated with a micro gas turbine. Hydrogen is produced by a pressure swing absorption system. A multi-objective optimization is performed, considering the electrical efficiency and the unit cost of electricity as the objective functions.The system operation is affected by variations in fuel composition, ambient temperature and performance degradation of the components occurring during its lifetime. These effects are considered while defining the objective functions.     

Performance analysis of a pressurized molten carbonate fuel cell/micro-gas turbine hybrid system

This paper presents the work on the design and part-load operations of a hybrid power system composed of a pressurized molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) and a micro-gas turbine (MGT). The gas turbine is an existing one and the MCFC is assumed to be newly designed for the hybrid system. Firstly, the MCFC power and total system power are determined based on the existing micro-gas turbine according to the appropriate MCFC operating temperature. The characteristics of hybrid system on design point are shown. And then different control methods are applied to the hybrid system for the part-load operation. The effect of different control methods is analyzed and compared in order to find the optimal control strategy for the system. The results show that the performance of hybrid system during part-load operation varies significantly with different control methods. The system has the best efficiency when using variable rotational speed control for the part-load operation. At this time both the turbine inlet temperature and cell operating temperature are close to the design value, but the compressor would cross the surge line when the shaft speed is less than 70% of the design shaft speed. For the gas turbine it is difficult to obtain the original power due to the higher pressure loss between compressor and turbine.     

Energy and exergy analysis of microfluidic fuel cell

Microfluidic fuel cell (MFC) is a promising fuel cell type because its membraneless feature implies great potential for low-cost commercialization. In this study, an energy and exergy analysis of MFC is performed by numerical simulation coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with electrochemical kinetics. MFC system designs with and without fuel recirculation are investigated. The effects of micropump efficiency, fuel flow rate and fuel concentration on the MFC system performance are evaluated. The results indicate that fuel recirculation is preferred for MFC to gain higher exergy efficiency only if the efficiency of the micropump is sufficiently high. Optimal cell operating voltage for achieving the highest exergy efficiency can be obtained. Parasitic effect will cause a significant reduction in the exergy efficiency. An increase in the fuel concentration will also lead to a reduction in the exergy efficiency. Increasing the fuel flow rate in a MFC with fuel recirculation will cause a fluctuating variation in the exergy efficiency. On the other hand, in a one-off MFC system, the exergy efficiency decreases with increasing fuel flow rate. The present work enables better understanding of the energy conversion in MFC and facilitates design optimization of MFC.     

Economic analysis of a combined heat and power molten carbonate fuel cell system

Fuel cells can be attractive for use as stationary combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) power plants are prime candidates for the utilization of fossil based fuels to generate high efficiency ultra clean power. However, fuel cells are considerably more expensive than comparable conventional technologies and therefore a careful analysis of the economics must be taken. This work presents analysis on the feasibility of installing both a FuelCell Energy DFC^® 1500MA and 300MA system for use at Adams Thermal Systems, a manufacturing facility in the U.S. Midwest. The paper examined thoroughly the economics driving the appropriateness of this measure. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to determine scenarios including variation in electric and natural gas rates along with reduced installation costs.     

Performance investigation of a transportation PEM fuel cell system

In this study, a comprehensive performance analysis of a transportation system powered by a PEM fuel cell engine system is conducted thermodynamically both through energy and exergy approaches. This system includes system components such as a compressor, humidifiers, pressure regulator, cooling system and the fuel cell stack. The polarization curves are studied in the modeling and compared with the actual data taken from the literature works before proceeding to the performance modeling. The system performance is investigated through parametric studies on energy, exergy and work output values by changing operating temperature, operating pressure, membrane thickness, anode stoichiometry, cathode stoichiometry, humidity, reference temperature and reference pressure. The results show that the exergy efficiency increases with increase of temperature from 323 to 353 K by about 8%, pressure from 2.5 to 4 atm by about 5%, humidity from 97% to 80% by about 10%, and reference state temperature from 253 to 323 K by about 3%, respectively. In addition, the exergy efficiency increases with decrease of membrane thickness from 0.02 to 0.005 mm by about 9%, anode stoichiometry from 3 to 1.1 by about 1%, and cathode stoichiometry from 3 to 1.1 by about 35% respectively.     

Thermodynamic analysis of a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell

In this study, energy and exergy analyses of a 1 kW Horizon H-1000 XP Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell has been investigated. A testing apparatus has been established to analyze the system efficiencies based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. In this mechanism pure hydrogen has been directly used as a fuel in compressed gas formation. Purity of hydrogen was above 99.99%. The system performance was investigated through experimental studies on energy and parametric studies on exergy by changing the operating pressure and operation temperature. The results showed that the energy efficiency of PEM fuel cell is 45.58% for experimental study and 41.27% for parametric study at full load. Also, 2.25% and 4.2% performance improvements were obtained by changing the operating temperature ratio (T/T₀) from 1 to 1.2 and operating pressure ratio (P/P₀) from 1 to 2, respectively.     

Energy,exergy, economic and environmental (4-E) analyses of plasma gasification steam cycle integrated molten carbonate fuel cell for hydrogen and power co-generation based on residual waste feedstocks

Two newly emerging technologies: (a) plasma gasification and (b) molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) are integrated for hydrogen and power production for various system configurations. Due to the emission concerns of fossil fuels, wastes such as refused derived fuel (RDF) is chosen as feedstock. The simulation of the power plants is performed using Aspen plus and consequently, 4-E (energy, exergy, economic and environmental) analyses are executed. The highest energy and exergy efficiencies attained are 54.12% and 52.02% for the system Syngas:CH₄ [PSA: MCFC], respectively. Moreover, the cost of electricity considering all the configurations is ranged between 77.48 and 107.93 $/MWh while the LCOH is between 1.01 and 3.94 $/kg. Likewise, introduction of MCFC for 0:100 [PSA: MCFC] case reduced the annual CO₂ emissions ∼5 times than of 100:0. Therefore, the 4-E analyses reported that integrated plasma gasification with MCFC introducing waste as feed could possibly favour H₂ and power co-generation and a cleaner environment.     

Energy and exergy analyses of integrated hybrid sulfur isobutane system for hydrogen production

This paper analyzes an integrated HyS cycle (hybrid sulfur cycle), isobutane cycle and electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The operating parameters such as concentration, pressure and temperature are varied to investigate their effects on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system with/without heat recovery and integration, as well as the decomposer and rate of hydrogen produced. A new heat exchanger network is also developed to recover heat within the HyS cycle in the most efficient manner. The exergy destruction rate in each component is analyzed and discussed. From the results, increasing the pressure is beneficial up to 3222 kPa, after which the performance remains constant. The exergy efficiency varies more significantly with operating parameters than the energy efficiency. The maximum exergy destruction occurs in the heat exchanger so this component should be the focus to enhance the overall performance of the system.     

A basic model for analysis of molten carbonate fuel cell behavior

A simple mathematical model, based on the basic chemical reactions and mass transfer, was developed to predict some important characteristics of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) with LiNaCO₃ and LiKCO₃ electrolytes for steady state operating conditions. The parallel and cross gas flow patterns were analyzed. Model simulates polarization characteristics, the effect of temperature, pressure and electrolyte type on the cell performance, various losses in the cell and gas flow rate changes through cell. The effect of fuel utilization on the cell potential and efficiency was also analyzed. Model predicts a better performance for the MCFC with LiNaCO₃ electrolyte and the cross flow pattern, in general. Results show a strong influence of the operating temperature on the cell potential at temperatures below 625 °C, where cell potential increases rapidly with increasing temperature. Above this temperature, however, the cell potential has almost a steady asymptotic profile. The model predicts cell efficiency steadily improving with increase in fuel utilization. The cell potential decreases almost linearly with increase in the fuel utilization percentage for both electrolytes. Models results show a stronger dependency of the cell potential on the operating pressure than that described by the Nerst equation which is in line with fact that the real variations in the cell potential can be higher due to decreased various losses.     

Energy and exergy performance assessments of a high temperature-proton exchange membrane fuel cell based integrated cogeneration system

High-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC), which operates between 160 °C and 200 °C, is considered to be a promising technology, especially for cogeneration applications. In this study, a mathematical model of a natural gas fed integrated energy system based on HT-PEMFC is first developed using the principles of electrochemistry and thermodynamics (including energy and exergy analyses). The effects of some key operating parameters (e.g., steam-to-carbon ratio, HT-PEMFC operating temperature, and anode stoichiometric ratio) on the system performance (electrical, cogeneration, and exergetic efficiencies) are examined. The exergy destruction rates of each component in the integrated system are found for different values of these parameters. The results show that the most influential parameter which affects the performance of the integrated system is the anode stoichiometric ratio. For the baseline conditions, when the anode stoichiometric ratio increases from 1.2 to 2, the electrical, cogeneration, and exergetic efficiencies decrease by 42.04%, 33.15%, and 37.39%, respectively. The highest electrical power output of the system is obtained when the SCR, operating temperature, and anode stoichiometric ratio are taken as 2, 160 °C, and 1.2, respectively. For this case, the electrical, cogeneration, and exergetic efficiencies are found as 26.20%, 70.34%, and 26.74%, respectively.     

Numerical studies of a separator for stack temperature control in a molten carbonate fuel cell

The use of a separator to control stack temperature in a molten carbonate fuel cell was studied by numerical simulation using a computational fluid dynamics code. The stack model assumed steady-state and constant-load operation of a co-flow stack with an external reformer at atmospheric pressure. Representing a conventional cell type, separators with two flow paths, one each for the anode and cathode gas, were simulated under conditions in which the cathode gas was composed of either air and carbon dioxide (case I) or oxygen and carbon dioxide (case II). The results showed that the average cell potential in case II was higher than that in case I due to the higher partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the cathode gas. This result indicates that the amount of heat released during the electrochemical reactions was less for case II than for case I under the same load. However, simulated results showed that the maximum stack temperature in case I was lower than that in case II due to a reduction in the total flow rate of the cathode gas. To control the stack temperature and retain a high cell potential, we proposed the use of a separator with three flow paths (case III); two flow paths for the electrodes and a path in the center of the separator for the flow of nitrogen for cooling. The simulated results for case III showed that the average cell potential was similar to that in case II, indicating that the amount of heat released in the stack was similar to that in case II, and that the maximum stack temperature was the lowest of the three cases due to the nitrogen gas flow in the center of the separator. In summary, the simulated results showed that the use of a separator with three flow paths enabled temperature control in a co-flow stack with an external reformer at atmospheric pressure.     

Influence of multiple irreversible losses on the performance of a molten carbonate fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid system

In this study, a new molten carbonate fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid system, which consists of a fuel cell, three heat exchangers, a compressor, and a turbine, is established. The multiple irreversible losses existing in real hybrid systems are taken into account by the models of a molten carbonate fuel cell and an open Brayton cycle with a regenerative process. Expressions for the power outputs and efficiencies of the subsystems and hybrid system are derived. The maximum power output and efficiency of the hybrid system are numerically calculated. It is found that compared with a single molten carbonate fuel cell, both the power output and efficiency of the hybrid system are greatly enhanced. The general performance characteristics of the hybrid system are evaluated and the optimal criteria of the main performance parameters are determined. The effects of key irreversibilities on the performance of the hybrid system are investigated in detail. It is found that the use of a regenerator in the gas turbine can availably improve the power output and efficiency of the system. The results obtained here are significant and may be directly used to discuss the optimal performance of the hybrid system in special cases.     

Electrochemical performance of reversible molten carbonate fuel cells

The electrochemical performance of a state-of-the-art molten carbonate cell was investigated in both fuel cell (MCFC) and electrolysis cell (MCEC) modes by using polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that it is feasible to run a reversible molten carbonate fuel cell and that the cell actually exhibits lower polarization in the MCEC mode, at least for the short-term tests undertaken in this study. The Ni hydrogen electrode and the NiO oxygen electrode were also studied in fuel cell and electrolysis cell modes under different operating conditions, including temperatures and gas compositions. The polarization of the Ni hydrogen electrode turned out to be slightly higher in the electrolysis cell mode than in the fuel cell mode at all operating temperatures and water contents. This was probably due to the slightly larger mass-transfer polarization rather than to charge-transfer polarization according to the impedance results. The CO₂ content has an important effect on the Ni electrode in electrolysis cell mode. Increasing the CO₂ content the Ni electrode exhibits slightly lower polarization in the electrolysis cell mode. The NiO oxygen electrode shows lower polarization loss in the electrolysis cell mode than in the fuel cell mode in the temperature range of 600–675 °C. The impedance showed that both charge-transfer and mass-transfer polarization of the NiO electrode are lower in the electrolysis cell than in the fuel cell mode.