Application of solid oxide fuel cell technology for power generation-A review

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been considered as one of the most promising technologies for very high-efficiency electric energy generation from natural gas, both with simple fuel cell plants and with integrated gas turbine/steam turbine-fuel cell systems. The high temperature exhaust gas from SOFC can be utilized in other cycles i.e. Rankine, Brayton for additional power generation or for heating and cooling purpose (cogeneration/trigeneration). The analysis shows that the resulting maximum efficiency of this SOFC-combined system can be up to 90% depending upon the operating condition and configuration used. This paper reviews the application of SOFC technology in power generation sector. This paper also investigate the research work undertaken or going on in this field. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.