Potential of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) based cycles in low-CO2 emission power generation

This paper deals with the application of CO2 removal techniques to high efficiency hybrid cycles based upon integration of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and gas turbines. The performance evaluation of two different plant configurations, both based on an intercooled and recuperated gas turbine cycle is carried out through a detailed calculation model developed by the authors. In spite of a 2.5divided by3 points efficiency decay versus similar cycles without CO2 removal, these plants show the potential to exceed 70 % LHV electric efficiency with a 90 % CO2 abatement even in a medium-scale size, without requiring high turbine inlet temperatures and approaching zero-NOx emissions.