Techno-economic assessment of the effects of biogas rate fluctuations on industrial applications of solid-oxide fuel cells

摘要

Wastewater treatment is an energy and greenhouse gas intensive process. An important opportunity to reduce both of these quantities is via the use of biogas in co-generation systems. Solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are the generator types studied in this work. The feasibility of the retrofitting of a wastewater treatment facility fitted with a SOFC combined heat and power energy provision system is assessed including effects of uncertainties in biogas availability on cost and energy performance. A two-stage stochastic optimization framework is proposed to provide feedback on the co-generation system design. Results quantify standard deviations in the biogas rate beyond which the SOFC capacity factor might drop below 80 % and change the optimal size of the modules to install.