Environmental impact assessment of a solid-oxide fuel-cell-based combined-heat-and-power-generation system

The environmental impact associated with a SOFC (solid-oxide fuel-cell) power generation system has been assessed using a LCA (life cycle assessment) method. LCA is a technique assessing the environmental aspects associated with a system during its entire life cycle. To calculate the environmental impact of the analyzed system, a commercial software package, SimaPro version 7.3.3., was used; the ReCiPe method, endpoint approach, and the hierarchist's perspective were selected for calculating the values. The calculation results reveal that the manufacturing stage and the disposal stage have small contributions to the total environmental impact, which just cover 2.1%-9.5% and 0.1%-0.6% of the total, respectively, depending on the assumption made for the lifetime of the SOFC stack and the overall system. The SOFC stack is a dominant contributor to the environmental impact associated with manufacturing; 72% of the total environmental impact of manufacturing comes from the SOFC stack; the remaining balance-of-plant (BOP) components account for 28% of the total environmental impact. Options for reducing the overall environmental impact are presented.