Techno-economic and thermodynamic analysis of solid oxide fuel cell combined heat and power integrated with biomass gasification and solar assisted carbon capture and energy utilization system

• Published in: Energy conversion and management Vol. 280; p. 116762
• Main Authors: Wang, Jie, Al-attab, K.A., Yew Heng, Teoh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15-03-2023
• Subjects: Biomass gasification; Carbon capture; Exergo-economic analysis; Solid oxide electrolyzer cell; Solid oxide fuel cell; Biomass gasification; Exergo-economic analysis; Solid oxide electrolyzer cell; Solid oxide fuel cell; Carbon capture
• ISSN: 0196-8904; 1879-2227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2023.116762

•Biomass gasification with SOFC-CHP subsystem is proposed for high efficiency.•Solar to fuel subsystem is proposed for methane production and enhanced efficiency.•System evaluation included thermodynamic, exergo-economic and environment analysis.•Payback period is ten years, methane selling price (18$/GJ) and electricity tariff (0.13$/kW).
A new system involving biomass gasification (BioG) with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) in combined heat and power (CHP) manner is evaluated. The aim of this system is to efficiently utilize biomass, while solar-assisted solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) methanation exploits CO2 from the system exhaust. CO2 and H2O are co-electrolyzed to form syngas, followed by four step methanation to produce synthetic natural gas. The energy system is thoroughly assessed using energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, and environmental assessments. The BioG-SOFC-CHP overall energy and exergy efficiencies reach up to 59 % and 44.7 %, respectively. Additionally, the SOEC-methanation subsystem achieved overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 78.5 % and 73.8 %, respectively. BioG showed the largest exergy destruction of 78.34 kW compared to 12.3 kW for SOFC. In SOEC-methanation subsystem, heater 2 has the largest exergy destruction of 98.93 kW. The economic analysis showed that the methane selling price of 18 $/GJ and the electricity tariff of 0.13 $/kW, which are nearly identical to the market price, resulting in a payback period of 10 years. Exergoeconomic analysis showed cost rate of SOFC power generation and methane production of 0.05225$/kWh and 29.5$/GJ, respectively. The BioG-SOFC-CHP provided low CO2 emission of about 0.13–0.166 t/GJ, which indicates its low environmental impact.