Parametric Study of the Combined Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine Power Plant

Large scale electrical power generation faces two serious problems: (i) energy conservation; and (ii) protection of the environment. High temperatures fuel cells have the potential to deal with both problems. The heat rejected by the fuel cell that would otherwise be wasted may be recovered to power a gas turbine in order to improve the energy conversion efficiency as well as power output of the combined fuel cell-gas turbine power plant. The added advantage of this approach would be to reduce thermal loading and the emission of greenhouse gases per MW electrical power generated. Serious research is being carried out worldwide to commercialise the fuel cell nevertheless there is still ample scope for studying the application of high temperature fuel cells in combination with the gas turbine for large scale electrical power generation. This paper presents the results of a parametric study of the fuel cell-gas turbine power plant to generate electricity. The paper should be of considerable interest to the designers and applications engineers working in power generation industry and other public utilities. The authors hope that the paper would lead to a stimulating discussion.Copyright © 2006 by ASME