Technoeconomic and environmental performance assessment of solid oxide fuel cell-based cogeneration system configurations
Dibyendu Roy, Samiran Samanta, Sumit Roy, Andrew Smallbone, Anthony Paul Roskilly
Abstract
In this study, an innovative energy solution to fulfil the electricity and heating needs of a mixed community, including residences, a commercial building , and a small brewery has been investigated. The primary objective is to comprehensively analyse the technoeconomic, and environmental aspects of a UK-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) energy hub designed for local-scale electricity and heating demands. This present study investigates two different configurations: (a) SOFC-based cogeneration and (b) SOFC-heat pump cogeneration configuration. These configurations are modelled to provide year-round electricity and heating for a local scale application and are evaluated using hydrogen and natural gas as fuels. A thorough environmental assessment is also conducted for SOFC and SOFC-heat pump system configurations fuelled by natural gas. The hydrogen fuelled SOFC-heat pump configuration outperforms other system configuration with energy efficiency of 96 %. Meanwhile, the hydrogen-fuelled SOFC cogeneration system yields maximum exergy efficiency at 61.51 %. The natural gas-powered SOFC-heat pump cogeneration system yields the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) at 0.1603 £/kWh, in comparison to the higher LCOE of 0.213 £/kWh for the alkaline hydrogen-fuelled system. The natural gas-fuelled SOFC system emits 0.3352 kg/kWh of CO 2 , with even lower emissions of 0.275 kg/kWh for the SOFC-heat pump system configuration.