Thermoeconomic analysis of large solid oxide fuel cell plants: Atmospheric vs. pressurized performance

• Exergy analysis of atmospheric and pressurized SOFC plants.
• Exergy destruction in a fuel cell hybrid power plant.
• Rigorous thermoeconomic methodology to assess the performance of different power generation plants.
• Economic performance of SOFC plants.

A detailed thermoeconomic analysis of two large solid oxide fuel cell-based power plants operating at atmospheric pressure and 20 bar, respectively, is assessed in this work. The analyzed systems employ SOFC-GT (gas turbine) modules as main power generators; a bottom HRSC (heat recovery steam cycle) to generate additional electricity from the SOFC-GT exhaust hot gases is also included.The thermodynamic and economic performance of the two plant configurations are studied in detail: the exergy analysis shows an enhanced exergetic performance for the pressurized cycle that features components with higher efficiency and consequently a lower rate of exergy destruction (∼20% less than the atmospheric plant). The economic analysis considers the capital cost of each component within the system and is developed aiming at estimating the levelized cost of electricity. In order to match both exergetic and economic parts, a rigorous thermoeconomic analysis following the theory of Valero and Bejan [1] and [2] is implemented. A well-defined set of rules for the exergoeconomic balance around each plant component is specified and specific cost balance equations are thus derived.Results show how pressurized plant outperforms the atmospheric one, with a (on exergo-economic base) cost of electricity of 47.7 $/MWh instead of 64.2 $/MWh. Therefore, both exergetic and economic advantages result from the adoption of a pressurized SOFC-GT cycle in the framework of future advance power plants based on high-temperature fuel cells.