Among the distributed generation emerging technologies, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) seem to be the most promising for small and medium power (up to 1 MW) as they feature extremely high efficiency and low pollutant emissions, and the high-grade waste heat can be utilized for space heating, process steam, and/or domestic hot water demands. As their main drawbacks are high cost and relatively short lifetime, much research is devoted to solve technological problems and to develop less expensive materials and mass production processes. However, even if SOFCs are close to commercialization and several demonstration units are already running, only few researches have been performed on their integration in power plants for distributed power generation, which are complex systems made up of different components that have to satisfy energy requirements (heat, electricity, and cooling). In this paper, we investigate the behavior of SOFCs in distributed energy systems and how their operation in terms of load and fuel utilization factor could optimize fuel consumption and/or minimize energy costs. The potential advantages of SOFCs related to their excellent part-load operation and their ability to meet and follow the highly noncoincident electric and thermal loads in either grid-connected or stand-alone configurations are discussed.
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e-mail: chiappini@ing.uniroma2.it
e-mail: andreafacci@gmail.com
e-mail: laura.tribioli@ing.uniroma2.it
e-mail: stefano.ubertini@uniparthenope.it
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June 2011
This article was originally published in
Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology
Research Papers
SOFC Management in Distributed Energy Systems
Daniele Chiappini,
Daniele Chiappini
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: chiappini@ing.uniroma2.it
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italy
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Andrea Luigi Facci,
Andrea Luigi Facci
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: andreafacci@gmail.com
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italy
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Laura Tribioli,
Laura Tribioli
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: laura.tribioli@ing.uniroma2.it
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italy
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Stefano Ubertini
Stefano Ubertini
Department of Technologies,
e-mail: stefano.ubertini@uniparthenope.it
University of Naples “Parthenope”
, 80143 Naples, Italy
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Daniele Chiappini
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italye-mail: chiappini@ing.uniroma2.it
Andrea Luigi Facci
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italye-mail: andreafacci@gmail.com
Laura Tribioli
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
, 00133 Rome, Italye-mail: laura.tribioli@ing.uniroma2.it
Stefano Ubertini
Department of Technologies,
University of Naples “Parthenope”
, 80143 Naples, Italye-mail: stefano.ubertini@uniparthenope.it
J. Fuel Cell Sci. Technol. Jun 2011, 8(3): 031015 (12 pages)
Published Online: March 1, 2011
Article history
Received:
August 30, 2010
Revised:
October 5, 2010
Online:
March 1, 2011
Published:
March 1, 2011
Citation
Chiappini, D., Facci, A. L., Tribioli, L., and Ubertini, S. (March 1, 2011). "SOFC Management in Distributed Energy Systems." ASME. J. Fuel Cell Sci. Technol. June 2011; 8(3): 031015. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4002907
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