Impact of fuel type on the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell integrated with a gas turbine

This study investigates the performance of a flame-assisted fuel cell integrated with a gas turbine operating with six fuels (CH4, C3H8, JP-4, JP-5, JP-10, and H-2). A thermodynamic model is developed for the fuel-rich combustion, fuel-lean combustion and each step of the gas turbine including the compressor, turbine and recuperator in order to analyze the overall hybrid gas turbine cycle. As the fuel/air equivalence ratio increases, the hybrid system efficiency increases initially then decreases despite increasing hydrogen concentration in the exhaust. The peak efficiency occurs around an equivalence ratio of 2 for all fuels. The optimal performance of the hybrid system utilizes H-2 as the fuel. The peak electrical efficiency of the hybrid setup is 64.7% with H-2 fuel, 60.3% with CH4 fuel, 60.9% with C3H8 fuel, 61.7% with JP-4 fuel, 61.0% with JP-5 fuel and 61.2% with JP-10 fuel, representing a significant increase over the standard gas turbine cycle. With H-2 fuel, the overall integrated system is predicted to be 24.5% more efficient than the standard gas turbine system. These results show promise for a fuel flexible hybrid gas turbine which could benefit the growing aircraft industry as the desire for a more electric airplane increases.

Automated summary

The study examines the performance of a flame-assisted fuel cell integrated with a gas turbine using six fuels, with hydrogen being the optimal choice for efficiency improvement. The hybrid system shows promise for enhancing efficiency in the growing aircraft industry, particularly with the increasing desire for more electric airplanes.