IGFC Response to Initial Fuel Cell Load for Various Syngas Compositions

The system response to an initial electric load of the fuel cell during the startup of a direct-fired fuel cell turbine power system was studied using the Hybrid Performance (Hyper) project hardware-based simulation facility at the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory for a range of input fuel compositions. The facility was brought to a steady condition at a temperature deemed adequate to minimize stress on the fuel cell during the initial load transient. A 1D distributed fuel cell model operating in real-time was used to produce individual cell transient temperature profiles during the course of the load change. The process was conducted with humidified hydrogen, and then repeated with various syngas compositions representative of different gasifier technologies. The results provide insight into control strategy requirements for mitigation of expected fuel cell failure modes relevant to available gasifier technology.Copyright © 2011 by ASME