A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT TO SIMPLIFY FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS

CARBONATE FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS OFFER THE MOST EFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUPERIOR OPTION TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY FROM NATURAL GAS, COAL GAS, AND OTHER HYDROCARBON FUELS. TO REALIZE THE GREATEST COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL OF THESE POWER PLANTS, ADVANCES ARE DESIRABLE TO IMPROVE THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE ITS OVERALL COST. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES IMPROVEMENTS IN COST AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CARBONATE FUEL CELL SYSTEM. IT REPLACES SEVERAL SUBSYSTEMS BY AN INTEGRATED MULTI-FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT TO REDUCE OVERALL SYSTEM COST. THE PROPOSED MULTI-FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM INTEGRATES THE CARBON DIOXIDE (CO(2)) MANAGEMENT BURNER SYSTEM WITH AN OXIDANT RECYCLE BLOWER, AN EXHAUST FUEL BOOSTER, AND START-UP BURNERS. THE RESULTING SYSTEM WILL HAVE A MINIMUM NUMBER OF HIGHLY RELIABLE COMPONENTS AND A GREATER OPERATNG RANGE. A COST SAVINGS OF 100 TO 150 $/KW MAY BE REALIZED WITH THIS APPROACH. A TECHNO-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY IS PLANNED TO INVESTIGATE THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE CONCEPT. DURING PHASE I, A DETAILED PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED FOR SEVERAL DISCRETE COMPONENTS. THIS WILL INCLUDE THE SPENT FUEL BURNER USED IN CO(2) MANAGEMENT, THE HOT OXIDANT RECYCLE BLOWER, AND THE START-UP BURNER. OPERABILITY OF THESE SUBSYSTEMS IN AN INTEGRATED MODE USING THE PLANNED CONCEPT WILL BE EXAMINED. EXPERIMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED TO VERIFY THE FEASIBILITY OF PARAMETERS AND INTEGRATION OPTIONS USING A SUBSCALE TEST FACILITY. DURING PHASE II, A SYSTEM VERIFICATION OF THE MULTI-FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT IN A CARBONATE FUEL CELL STACK WILL BE PERFORMED.