Decentralized generation of electricity with solid oxide fuel cells from centrally converted biomass

A thermodynamic evaluation of different energy conversion chains based on centralized biomass gasification and decentralized heat and power production by a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been performed. Three different chains have been evaluated, the main difference between the chains is the secondary fuel produced via biomass gasification. The secondary fuels considered are hydrogen, synthetic natural gas (SNG) and syngas. These fuels are assumed to be distributed through a transport and distribution grid to the micro-combined heat and power (μ-CHP) systems based on a SOFC and a heat pump.Two systems for the generation of secondary fuels from biomass are modelled using Cycle-Tempo. The hydrogen plant and the syngas plant have been modelled. The efficiency of the synthetic natural gas plant is taken from literature. The μ-CHP systems on the different fuels have also been modelled in Cycle-Tempo. The chain from biomass based centralized gas production towards decentralized heat and power production has been evaluated. The overall exergy efficiency from biomass to heat and power is for the hydrogen route 21.1%, for the SNG route it is 28.4 and for the syngas route it is 30.4%.