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http://dx.doi.org/10.7464/ksct.2020.26.2.96

Trigeneration Based on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Driven by Macroalgal Biogas  

Effendi, Ivannie (Department of Chemical Engineering, Pukyong National University)
Liu, J. Jay (Department of Chemical Engineering, Pukyong National University)
Publication Information
Clean Technology / v.26, no.2, 2020 , pp. 96-101 More about this Journal
Abstract
In this paper, the commercial feasibility of trigeneration, producing heat, power, and hydrogen (CHHP) and using biogas derived from macroalgae (i.e., seaweed biomass feedstock), are investigated. For this purpose, a commercial scale trigeneration process, consisting of three MW solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), gas turbine, and organic Rankine cycle, is designed conceptually and simulated using Aspen plus, a commercial process simulator. To produce hydrogen, a solid oxide fuel cell system is re-designed by the removal of after-burner and the addition of a water-gas shift reactor. The cost of each unit operation equipment in the process is estimated through the calculated heat and mass balances from simulation, with the techno-economic analysis following through. The designed CHHP process produces 2.3 MW of net power and 50 kg hr-1 of hydrogen with an efficiency of 37% using 2 ton hr-1 of biogas from 3.47 ton hr-1 (dry basis) of brown algae as feedstock. Based on these results, a realistic scenario is evaluated economically and the breakeven electricity selling price (BESP) is calculated. The calculated BESP is ¢10.45 kWh-1, which is comparable to or better than the conventional power generation. This means that the CHHP process based on SOFC can be a viable alternative when the technical targets on SOFC are reached.
Keywords
biogas; trigeneration; macroalgae; process design; solid oxide fuel cells;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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