Exergy and economic comparison between kW-scale hybrid and stand-alone solid oxide fuel cell systems

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

卷:353

Article

Whiston, Michael M.¹  Collinge, William O.²  Bilec, Melissa M.²  Schaefer, Laura A.³ 

[1] Carnegie Mellon Univ, Dept Engn & Publ Policy, 5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA

[2] Univ Pittsburgh, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, 3700 OHara St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 USA

[3] Rice Univ, Dept Mech Engn, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA

关键词: Solid oxide fuel cell;    Microturbine;    Hybrid;    Economic;    Energy;    Exergy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.03.113

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Although hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) microturbine systems generate power more efficiently than stand-alone SOFC systems, hybrid systems remain in the demonstration phase. This study compares a hybrid system's exergetic and economic performance with that of a stand-alone system. Both systems meet a university building's kW-scale power demand. The hybrid system operates at 66% exergetic efficiency, and the stand-alone system operates at 59% exergetic efficiency. Increasing the fuel cell's operating voltage increases the systems' exergetic efficiencies, and varying the fuel cell's temperature, pressure, and fuel utilization influences the systems' exergetic performances, though to a lesser extent. This study calculates the systems' life cycle costs. We find that the systems' life cycle costs depend significantly on the systems' operation. During baseline operation, the hybrid system costs less than the stand-alone system. After optimizing the systems during cogeneration operation, the hybrid system costs slightly more than the stand-alone system. Overall, our findings support hybrid systems' continued research and development; it is recommended that future work simulate hybrid and stand-alone systems under a range of thermal-to-electric ratios to reflect different building types and operation. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free