A simulation study of Solid Oxide fuel cell for IGCC power generation using Aspen Plus

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising technology for electricity generation. Sulfur free syngas from the gas cleaning unit serves as a fuel for SOFC in IGFC (Integrated gasification Fuel cell) power plant. It converts the chemical energy of the fuel gas directly to electric energy and therefore, very high efficiencies can be achieved. The high operating temperature of the SOFC also provides excellent possibilities for cogeneration application. The outputs from SOFC can be utilized by HRSG which helps to drive steam generator. Recent developments in modeling techniques has resulted in a more accurate fuel cell model giving an advantage over previous system studies based on simplified SOFC models. The objective of this work is to develop a simulation model of a SOFC for IGFC system, flexible enough for use in future development, capable of predicting system performance under various operating conditions and using diverse fuels. The SOFC stack model developed using the chemical process flow sheet simulator Aspen Plus which is of equilibrium type and is based on Gibbs free energy minimization. The SOFC model performs heat and mass balances and considers the ohmic, activation and concentration losses for the voltage calculation and some graphical presentation of those losses by using MATLAB software. A various range of syngas properties has been used for the simulation which is gathered from different literatures. The results indicate there must be tread off efficiency and power with respect to a variety of SOFC inputs. SOFC stack operation on syn-gas is compared to operation on different coal properties and as expected there is a drop in performance, which is attributed to increased input fuel and air flow due to the lower quality of the fuel gas.