Techno-economic optimization of a fuel cell with nanomaterial structure membrane for electricity and heating production

In this research study, a biofuel cell system for simultaneous electricity and heat production is modeled and investigated from the perspectives of energy, exergy, and economics. The polymer-based fuel cell in this study is employed with nanomaterial Pt for enhanced performance. The system includes the primary components of a gasifier, a polymer membrane fuel cell, and a two-stage organic Rankine cycle. Additionally, the impacts of employing the Rankine cycle to recover the waste heat generated by the fuel cell on system efficiency have been explored. Five series of binary combinations for the first and second cycles of the organic Rankine system were explored during this investigation. Among them, the first and second cycles using propane and ethane, respectively, have the maximum energy effectiveness and exergy. The fundamental and effective variables were found. Eventually, the system was optimized using the objective functions of exergy cost and efficiency after conducting a thermodynamic and economic analysis of the cycle using parametric assessment. Ultimately, the most acceptable point of system design, taking both cost and exergy efficiency into account, results in exergy efficiency and cost of 39.86 percent and 32.038 $/h, respectively. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd