Energy and exergy analyses of a novel ammonia combined power plant operating with gas turbine and solid oxide fuel cell systems

This study deals with a new combined power plant that utilizes only ammonia as a fuel for multi generation purpose. The system comprises two main powering sources, a gas turbine cycle (GTC) running on ammonia and using hydrogen as a promoter, and ammonia fed solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The waste heat from the gas turbine exhaust gases is recovered using Rankine cycle (RC) to generate additional electric power, and the waste heat from the condenser of the RC is utilized to heat water for residential application. The residual thermal energy from the exhaust gases is used to operate an absorption chiller system (ACS) to provide refrigeration for the industry. The electricity generated from the RC is supplied to an ammonia electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, which can be stored for other applications. The system is analyzed thermodynamically using the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Moreover, Exergy destruction and losses of the different combined power plant units are determined. Furthermore, a comprehensive parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of varying ambient conditions, operating and design parameters on the overall performance of the combined system and subsystems. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the multigeneration system are found to be 58.78% and 50.66%, respectively. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.