Techno-economic comparison of anode-supported, cathode-supported, and electrolyte-supported SOFCs

Different types of self-supported SOFCs (i.e., anode-supported, cathode-supported and electrolyte-supported SOFCs) have been compared in literature mostly from technical point of view. In this study, the mentioned types of SOFCs are compared from technical and economic points of view simultaneously. In this regard, “maximum power density” and “material cost of PEN layer” are taken as objective functions. These functions are evaluated through numerical modeling and based on available cost data, respectively. The results illustrate that the cathode-supported SOFC is the optimal choice when power density is regarded alone. On the other hand, the electrolyte-supported SOFC is observed to be the optimal option when the material cost of PEN is considered as the only objective function. However, the anode-supported SOFC makes the best trade-off between the two objective functions when they are simultaneously taken into consideration. The results also indicate that the electrolyte-supported SOFC leads to a symmetrical and most uniform current density distribution as compared to the electrode-supported ones in which peak local current densities tend toward non-supporting side. The paper discusses in detail the reasoning for the mentioned observations.