Biodiesel production integrated with glycerol steam reforming process, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power plant

Process of biodiesel production integrated with glycerol steam reforming process, solid oxide fuel cell power plant, and also the organic Rankine cycle for the simultaneous production of biodiesel and electricity is investigated. In the biodiesel production scenario, biodiesel is obtained from waste cooking oil using acid catalyst coupled with hexane extraction. The glycerol obtained from the above method is subjected to steam reforming process to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen produced is then used as fuel in the solid oxide fuel cell to provide thermal and electrical energy for biodiesel production and reforming processes. In addition, generating extra power will allow biodiesel production to be more economical by injecting it into the electricity network. It also provides the heat duty of organic Rankine cycle. Sensitivity analysis is accomplished on the proposed model to indicate the effects of several parameters on the biodiesel production, glycerol production, power generation, and process efficiency. This study showed that with increasing oil flow rate, total generated power in SOFC, SOFC cycle efficiency, input flow to fuel cell and cell number decreased. Also, with increasing the fuel utilization coefficient, electrical efficiency, cell number, total output power from SOFC and overall thermal efficiency increased. The effect of inlet heat to distillation towers on parameters such as overall thermal efficiency and electrical efficiency and total generated power was also investigated. As main results, solid oxide fuel cell efficiency, Electrical efficiency, and overall thermal efficiency based on LHV are 25.09%, 28.14%, and 85.16%, respectively. Overall, developing a biodiesel production plant by upgrading glycerol to hydrogen through steam reforming and using hydrogen produced in solid oxide fuel cell and employing organic Rankine cycle to generate power is an attractive strategy to make biodiesel production cycles more economical.