Coal Gasification Based Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Power Generation with CO2 Capture

As environment regulations for coal-fired power plants becomes more and more stringent in the future carbon-constrained world, the combination of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and coal gasification provides a promising solution. The goal of this study was to integrate SOFC with coal gasification in the context of carbon capture. System modeling and simulation were performed with the aim at assessing and comparing different system configurations. The various candidate concepts were put into two categories: pre-SOFC-capture and post-SOFC-capture. The impacts of different oxidize agents (air fed or oxygen fed) and different re-circulation arrangements of air and fuel loops were investigated. Results show that air fed post-SOFC-capture systems have advantages over pre-capture systems in both power output and efficiency Among post-SOFC-capture concepts, air fed with recirculation of both air and fuel seems to be the most promising configuration. Overall efficiency of above 50% could be achieved with such a configuration due to the better utilization of high temperature streams at SOFC outlet.