(587h) Techno-Economic Analysis of Integrated Solid Oxide Fuel Cell - Gas Turbine - Organic Rankine Cycle Powered By Seaweed Biogas

Due to escalating environmental issues, alternative energy sources are required instead of fossil fuels. One of the alternatives for stationary power generation are solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) which electrochemically convert fuel into electricity and heat. By utilizing biogas from brown seaweed (Saccharina japonica) as a fuel for SOFC, power generation is considered carbon neutral.

Electrical efficiency of biogas-powered SOFC is calculated to be around 45 %, while it generates 2.6 MW of heat per MW of electricity. This makes it plausible for integration into a combined heat and power (CHP) generation process. Integration of SOFC with gas turbine (GT) and organic rankine cycle (ORC) to utilize the heat, can increase the efficiency by 10-15%.

In this work, energy and economic viability of integrated SOFC, Gas Turbine (GT), and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) are investigated for industrial size of stationary power generation. This system is profitable with the value of corresponding minimum power selling price in the range of US average power selling price of 2016.