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Energy System Analysis of SOFC Systems

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Advances in Medium and High Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology

Part of the book series: CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences ((CISM,volume 574))

Abstract

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system involves phenomena that take place at different scales. The electrochemical active cell—a multicomposite structure that consists of different microscopic layers made of different materials—is thus at the center of a broader and complex energy system, whose efficient and durable performance much depends on several other integrated subsystems and auxiliaries which both provide reactants to the fuel cell and extract exhausts from the same. This is the reason energy analysis focuses on the overall plant behavior and not only on cell and stack performance. This chapter will review modeling tools and approaches for system performance evaluation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The dopant is added to increase the ionic conductivity of zirconia.

  2. 2.

    The equilibrium condition is assumed for OCV condition.

  3. 3.

    The standard state for vapour phase is taken as an ideal gas at system temperature and pressure of 1 bar, for the liquid phase is taken as the fugacity of pure component i in liquid phase at system temperature and for solid phase the reference state is the solid phase at 298.15 K and 1 bar.

  4. 4.

    Note that the stack control volume considered here is different from the previous one through which the SOFC waste heat rate was calculated. The stack control volume described here is isothermal and thus it does not include the cooling effect of cathode air. This is pretty much like looking at a restricted stack volume in which the cooling effect of reactants/products is not accounted for yet.

Abbreviations

ASR:

Area specific resistance \(( \Omega \text{cm}^2)\)

F :

Faraday’s constant (=96485) (C mol-1)

FU:

Fuel utilization

I :

Current (A)

R :

Ideal gas constant (=8.314) (J mol-1 K-1)

T :

Temperature (K)

V :

Voltage (V)

W :

Electric power (W)

\(\Delta{{\bar{g}}}\) :

Molar Gibbs free energy change (J mol-1)

\(\Delta H\) :

Total enthalpy change (W)

\(\Delta S\) :

Entropy rate change (W K-1)

j :

Current density (A cm-2)

\(\bar{n},\,\dot{n}\) :

Molar flow rate (mol s-1)

\(n_{el}\) :

Number of electrons

\(\bar{h}\) :

Molar specific enthalpy (J mol-1)

\(\bar{s}\) :

Molar specific entropy (J mol-1 K-1)

p :

(partial) pressure, bar

x :

Cathodic recirculation ratio

y :

Anodic recirculation ratio

\(\varSigma_{irr}\) :

Rate of irreversibilities production (W)

\(\varPhi\) :

Thermal power (W)

\(\lambda\) :

Air excess ratio

an:

Anode

aux:

Auxiliaries

cat:

Cathode

f:

Fuel

i:

i-component of a mixture

in:

Inlet

mix:

Mixture

N :

Total number of components (chemical species) in a mixture

N, Nernst:

Nernst potential

op:

Operating

out:

Outlet

r:

Reaction

tot:

Total

0:

Reference thermodynamic condition (25 °C, 1 bar)

A-SOFC:

Atmospheric SOFC

BoP:

Balance of Plant

DIR-SOFC:

Direct internal reforming SOFC

ER-SOFC:

External reformer SOFC

GT:

Gas turbine

IGFC:

Integrated gasifier fuel cell

IIR-SOFC:

Indirect internal reformer SOFC

LHV:

Lower heating value

NETL:

National Energy Technology Lab

NG:

Natural gas

OCV:

Open-circuit voltage

P-SOFC:

Pressurized SOFC

S(M)R:

Steam (methane) reforming

SOFC:

Solid oxide fuel cell

WGS:

Water gas shift

WWTP:

Wastewater treatment plant

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Department, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Andrea Lanzini, Domenico Ferrero & Massimo Santarelli

Authors
  1. Andrea Lanzini
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  2. Domenico Ferrero
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  3. Massimo Santarelli
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Andrea Lanzini or Massimo Santarelli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Udine , Udine, Italy

    Marta Boaro

  2. Institute for Advances Energy Technologies (ITAE), National Research Council (CNR), Messina, Italy

    Aricò Antonino Salvatore

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Lanzini, A., Ferrero, D., Santarelli, M. (2017). Energy System Analysis of SOFC Systems. In: Boaro, M., Salvatore, A. (eds) Advances in Medium and High Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technology. CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences, vol 574. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46146-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46146-5_6

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46146-5

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