Performance analysis of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-Gasifier integrated system in co-trigenerative arrangement

The use of renewable sources such as woody biomass waste, for energy purposes helps to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore the production of associated pollutants and greenhouse gases . Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are devices that convert the chemical energy of a product gas produced by a gasifier of biomass waste, before being suitably purified, directly into electric energy, with a conversion efficiency which is higher than that of other conventional energy systems. Since they operate at high temperature, they make available also thermal energy, which can be used for co- and tri-generation purposes. The integrated SOFC/Gasifier defined can be considered a high-efficiency co-generator capable of valorizing biomass waste energetically and therefore is absolutely eco-friendly and sustainable. In this article, first an energy analysis of the integrated SOFC/gasifier utilizing a fixed quantity of biomass waste produced will be carried out. Then, the preliminary design and energy analysis of a more complete system, also containing absorption heat pump and storage for heat and electricity, are carried out to satisfy the needs of a possible user in the tertiary sector.