Simulation of solid oxide fuel cell systems integrated with sequential CaO–CO2 capture unit

This paper presents preliminary simulation results from the performance analysis of the integrated systems of calcium oxide (CaO)–carbon dioxide (CO2) capture unit and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The CO2 was extracted for further sequestration in the CaO–CO2 capture unit. Three configurations of the integrated systems (CaO-Before-SOFC: CBS, CaO-After-SOFC: CAS and CaO-After-Burner: CAB) were considered. It was found that the CO2 capture efficiency (Ec) is dependent on CaO fresh feed rate (F0) and CaO recycle rate (FR). The improvement of SOFC performance was only realized for the CBS system. The SOFC performance increases with increasing CO2Ec. The preliminary economic analysis was carried out considering total additional cost per mole of CO2 captured. At a low percentage of CO2 capture (<42.5%), the CBS system is the most suitable configuration while the CAS system becomes an attractive choice at higher values. However, only the CAB system could be possible at a very high range of CO2 capture (>94%).