Economic feasibility of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for power generation in Iran

Supply utilities needed in site with the lowest cost and emission and highest efficiency are considered one of the main concerns of the process industry's owners that requires doing more research in this area. In this research, during a case study, first comprehensive site of producing utility is optimized, and then the energy and environmental analysis of fuel cell system is taken place. Then fuel cell integration with utility site during two scenarios of entire supply of steam generated by HRSG of gas turbine and entire supply of gas turbine generated power was evaluated. According to the evaluation done, if the target is the entire supply of steam generated by HRSG of gas turbine, selecting solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system is economically and environmentally more affordable. So if the target is preheating, selecting the system is based on entire supply of steam generated by the boilers, and the number of eight SOFC systems will be required by which a power about 22MW can be produced.