ECONOMICAL OPTIMIZATION OF A HYBRID SYSTEM GAS TURBINE SIZE WITH SOFC STACK DEGRADATION

• The coupling of a pressurized solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a gas turbine has been proven to result in extremely high efficiency and reduced emissions. The presence of the gas turbine can improve system durability compared to a standalone SOFC, because the turbomachinery can supply additional power as the fuel cell degrades to meet the power request. Since performance degradation is an obstacles to SOFC systems commercialization, the optimization of the hybrid system to mitigate SOFC degradation effects is of great interest. In this work, an optimization approach was used to innovatively study the effect of gas turbine size on system durability for a 400 kW fuel cell stack. A larger turbine allowed a bigger reduction in SOFC power before replacing the stack, but increased the initial capital investment and decreased the initial turbine efficiency. Thus, the power ratio between SOFC and gas turbine significantly influenced system economic results.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Energiteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Energy Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

design optimization

economic analysis

hybrid systems

SOFC degradation

Combustion

Durability

Efficiency

Gas emissions

Investments

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC)

Economics analysis

Fuel cell degradations

Higher efficiency

Optimisations

Performance degradation

Power

Solid oxide fuel cell degradation

Solid oxide fuel cell stack

Solid-oxide fuel cell

Gas turbines

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)