International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.43, No.21, 10004-10015, 2018
Modeling of natural gas fueled quadruple cycle for power applications
Performance improvement being a major need of the power sector aims at increasing efficiency, lowering air pollutants and ultimately cost. This paper explores a quadruple cycle, a hybrid of solid oxide fuel cell integrated with gas turbine, steam turbine and organic Rankine cycle totaling four cycles (SOFC-GT-ST-ORC), fueled primarily by natural gas for stationary power generation. A mathematical model of the configuration of the quadruple cycle is developed and the performance investigated through a parametric study of the thermodynamic components. The power output, efficiency and other results were validated with those found in literature. The quadruple cycle produced an efficiency of 66.1% with 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane, R134a as the organic working fluid. This efficiency exceeded the performance of traditional thermodynamic cycles like single steam cycle, combined and triple cycle at similar operating conditions. Lastly, the quadruple cycle presents a potential for optimization with waste heat recovery. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Solid oxide fuel cell;Efficiency;Organic Rankine cycle;Gas turbine cycle;Steam turbine cycle