Integrated plasma gasification and SOFC system simulation using Aspen Plus

Abstract

Gasification is the thermal decomposition of a solid feedstock into a combustible synthetic gas mainly composed of H2and CO. Gasification usually suffers from relatively low electrical efficiencies when coupled with a steam cycle or gas engine power generation trains for electricity generation. The integration of gasifiers with more advanced electricity generation technologies such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), presents a significant opportunity to maximize the energy recovery from biomass and waste.This study presents the results of a simulation study, using Aspen Plus, whereby an integrated microwave induced plasma (MIP) gasifier, gas cleaning unit, SOFC and an anode off-gas combustor, was modelled foroptimal energy efficiency. MIP gasificationis a novelhigh temperature plasma based advanced thermal conversion technology, that enables generation of a high quality synthetic gas suitable for energy generation using an SOFC. Specific focus has been given to the removal of syngas impurities within the synthetic gas clean-up train to ensure the removal of impuritiessuch as tars, particulates, H2Sand HCl, critical to the performance and durability of the fuel cells.This study demonstrates the theoretical feasibility of combining MIP gasification and SOFC.The influence of feedstock moisture content on gasification efficiency is investigated showing thatbest efficiencies are obtained with moisture content close to 21%.The integrated system shows a very high electrical efficiency of up to 34%corresponding to a cell voltage of 0.83 V at low current densityand CHP efficiency higher than 70%when turning biomass into electricity

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ORCID for Nuno Bimbo: orcid.org/0000-0001-8740-8284

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