Analysis and optimization of solid oxide fuel cell system with anode and cathode off gas recirculation

Xinyi Wei, Shivom Sharma, Jan Van herle and François Maréchal

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2025, vol. 208, issue C

Abstract: Solid oxide fuel cell technology shows great potential in generating electricity. However, insufficient steam in the stack can result in carbon deposition, accelerating cell degradation over prolonged operation. To prevent this, ensuring an adequate supply of external water is necessary, yet resulting in a larger external water purification unit and a greater need for heat for water evaporation. Anode-off gas, which comprises unreacted fuel, steam and CO2 from the stack, can be strategically recirculated to the external reformer inlet, preventing carbon deposition in the reformer and stack. Further, solid oxide fuel cell system offers the potential to supply high-temperature heat to industrial applications, embodying the concept of combined heat and power plants. To maximize heat availability, cathode-off gas can partially be blended with the fresh air entering the stack. Various anode-off gas and cathode-off gas recirculation configurations are possible, and they have to be systematically analysed and compared. This study models all possible system configurations using different types of anode-off gas (no, cold, warm, hot) and cathode-off gas (no, warm, hot) recirculations. Multi-objective optimization has been conducted, and system performance has been analysed and compared using electrical efficiency, freshwater consumption, thermal efficiency, design complexity, heat availability and heat valorization potential. Further, an in-depth analysis of the impact of decision variables on the objective functions has been performed for different system configurations. These valuable insights serve as a guide to engineers and decision-makers, enabling informed decisions for solid oxide fuel cell system design.

Keywords: Solid oxide fuel cell; Anode off gas recirculation; Cathode off gas recirculation; System design; Multi-objective optimization; Heat integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403212400741X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:208:y:2025:i:c:s136403212400741x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.115015

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().