Modelling and simulation of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell coupled with a gas turbine power plant

The paper presents a simulation of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell-gas turbine (SOFC-GT) power generation system fueled by natural gas. In the system considered, the unreacted fuel from a topping solid oxide fuel cell is burnt in an afterburner to feed a bottoming gas turbine and produce additional power. Combustion gas expands in the gas turbine after having preheated the inlet air and fuel and it is used to generate steam required by the reforming reactions. A novel thermodynamic model has been developed for the fuel cell and implemented into the library of a modular object-oriented Process Simulator, CAMELPro™. The relevant plant performance indicators have been analyzed to evaluate the incremental increase in efficiency brought about by the introduction of the gas turbine and heat regeneration system. Simulations were performed for different values of the main plant parameters.