Working-fluid selection and thermoeconomic optimisation of a combined cycle cogeneration dual-loop organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) waste-heat recovery

A novel combined-cycle system is proposed for the cogeneration of electricity and cooling, in which a dual-loop organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine is used for waste-heat recovery from a solid oxide fuel cell system equipped with a gas turbine (SOFC-GT). Electricity is generated by the SOFC, its associated gas turbine, the two ORC turbines and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) turbine; the LNG supply to the fuel cell is also used as the heat sink to the ORC engines and as a cooling medium for domestic applications. The performance of the system with 20 different combinations of ORC working fluids is investigated by multi-objective optimisation of its capital cost rate and exergy efficiency, using an integration of a genetic algorithm and a neural network. The combination of R601 (top cycle) and Ethane (bottom cycle) is proposed for the dual-loop ORC system, due to the satisfaction of the optimisation goals, i.e., an optimal trade-off between efficiency and cost. With these working fluids, the overall system achieves an exergy efficiency of 51.6%, a total electrical power generation of 1040 kW, with the ORC waste-heat recovery system supplying 20.7% of this power, and a cooling capacity of 567 kW. In addition, an economic analysis of the proposed SOFC-GT-ORC system shows that the cost of production of an electrical unit amounts to $33.2 per MWh, which is 12.9% and 73.9% lower than the levelized cost of electricity of separate SOFC-GT and SOFC systems, respectively. Exergy flow diagrams are used to determine the flow rate of the exergy and the value of exergy destruction in each component. In the waste-heat recovery system, exergy destruction mainly occurs within the heat exchangers, the highest of which is in the LNG cooling unit followed by the LNG vaporiser and the evaporator of the bottom-cycle ORC system, highlighting the importance of these components' design in maximising the performance of the overall system.