Energetic, exergetic and economic (3E) investigation of biomass gasification-based power generation system employing molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), indirectly heated air turbine and an organic Rankine cycle

In this paper, a biomass gasification-based molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)-integrated advanced power system has been modelled and analyzed. The proposed system consisted of a biomass gasifier with hot gas cleaning equipment, a MCFC module, an indirectly heated air turbine and an organic Rankine cycle. Energetic, exergetic and economic (3E) analyses of the proposed power generation have been carried out. The effects of variation of operating and design parameters on the overall performances of the system have been showcased. Base case energetic and exergetic efficiency is found to be 38.49% and 32.7%, respectively. Exergetic analysis discloses that the highest exergy destruction takes place at gasifier (34.15%) followed by primary heat exchanger (16.15%), after burner (14.88%) and MCFC (13.80%). The proposed power system exhibits minimum unit cost of electricity of 0.17$/kWh at current density of MCFC of 950A/m(2), fuel cell temperature of 973K and secondary air blower pressure ratio of 1.6. At this operating condition, the plant gives a net output of 105.3kW, its energy efficiency is 40.37% and exergy efficiency is 34.38%.