IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v227y2021ics0360544221007386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermal energy recovery of molten carbonate fuel cells by thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles

Author

Listed:
  • Abdollahipour, Armin
  • Sayyaadi, Hoseyn

Abstract

Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) is combined with the thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) to form a novel hybrid system. TREC is considered for harvesting the waste heat of the MCFC and converting it into electricity. The hybrid system performance analyzed in terms of energetic and exergetic, and optimum criteria for critical parameters, like the current density, power output, and efficiency, are specified. Moreover, the effects of the MCFC and TREC critical design parameters on the system performance are discussed. It was obtained that a higher operating temperature of the MCFC increases the power output and efficiency of the hybrid system while decreases exergy destruction. Higher temperature coefficient and regeneration efficiency and lower internal resistance for the TREC lead to higher power output. Multi-objective optimization was applied, and for choosing the final optimal solution, Fuzzy, TOPSIS, and LINMAP decision-making techniques are employed. It was revealed that the maximum power output density and exergy efficiency for the hybrid system was about 6.4%–26.5% and 7.5%–26.4% higher than a standalone MCFC, respectively. Furthermore, the MCFC-TRECs system is evaluated against other MCFC-based hybrid systems, and it was found that TREC could be considered a favorable option for waste heat recovery of the MCFC. The outcomes of the present paper are useful for the design and optimization of the MCFC hybrid system and improving the thermal performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2021. "Thermal energy recovery of molten carbonate fuel cells by thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:227:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221007386
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.120489
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221007386
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2021.120489?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Xiuqin & Liu, Huiying & Ni, Meng & Chen, Jincan, 2015. "Performance evaluation and parametric optimum design of a syngas molten carbonate fuel cell and gas turbine hybrid system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 407-414.
    2. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2015. "A hybrid system using a regenerative electrochemical cycle to harvest waste heat from the proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P2), pages 2079-2086.
    3. Sayyaadi, Hoseyn & Aminian, Hamid Reza, 2010. "Design and optimization of a non-TEMA type tubular recuperative heat exchanger used in a regenerative gas turbine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 1647-1657.
    4. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Solar energy harvesting in buildings using a proposed novel electrochemical device as an alternative to PV modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 118-125.
    5. Wang, Yuan & Su, Shanhe & Liu, Tie & Su, Guozhen & Chen, Jincan, 2015. "Performance evaluation and parametric optimum design of an updated thermionic-thermoelectric generator hybrid system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1575-1583.
    6. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2015. "Performance analysis of a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle for harvesting waste heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 463-469.
    7. Wilailak, Supaporn & Yang, Jae-Hyeon & Heo, Chul-Gu & Kim, Kyung-Su & Bang, Se-Kyung & Seo, In-Ho & Zahid, Umer & Lee, Chul-Jin, 2021. "Thermo-economic analysis of Phosphoric Acid Fuel-Cell (PAFC) integrated with Organic Ranking Cycle (ORC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    8. Alijanpour sheshpoli, Mohamad & Mousavi Ajarostaghi, Seyed Soheil & Delavar, Mojtaba Aghajani, 2018. "Waste heat recovery from a 1180 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system by Recuperative organic Rankine cycle (RORC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 353-366.
    9. Neef, H.-J., 2009. "International overview of hydrogen and fuel cell research," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 327-333.
    10. Ahmadi, Mohammad H. & Jokar, Mohammad Ali & Ming, Tingzhen & Feidt, Michel & Pourfayaz, Fathollah & Astaraei, Fatemeh Razi, 2018. "Multi-objective performance optimization of irreversible molten carbonate fuel cell–Braysson heat engine and thermodynamic analysis with ecological objective approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 707-722.
    11. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Two novel methods for converting the waste heat of PV modules caused by temperature rise into electric power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 543-551.
    12. Lai, Xiaotian & Long, Rui & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2018. "A hybrid system using direct contact membrane distillation for water production to harvest waste heat from the proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 578-586.
    13. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng & Wang, Jiatang & Zhao, Jiapei & Wang, Fu & Miao, He & Yuan, Jinliang & Hou, Shujin, 2020. "A new hybrid system composed of high-temperature proton exchange fuel cell and two-stage thermoelectric generator with Thomson effect: Energy and exergy analyses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    14. Zhang, Houcheng & Lin, Guoxing & Chen, Jincan, 2011. "The performance analysis and multi-objective optimization of a typical alkaline fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 4327-4332.
    15. Wu, Sijie & Zhang, Houcheng & Ni, Meng, 2016. "Performance assessment of a hybrid system integrating a molten carbonate fuel cell and a thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 520-527.
    16. Baronci, Andrea & Messina, Giuseppe & McPhail, Stephen J. & Moreno, Angelo, 2015. "Numerical investigation of a MCFC (Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell) system hybridized with a supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle and compared with a bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1063-1073.
    17. Zhang, Xin & Cai, Ling & Liao, Tianjun & Zhou, Yinghui & Zhao, Yingru & Chen, Jincan, 2018. "Exploiting the waste heat from an alkaline fuel cell via electrochemical cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 983-990.
    18. Antolini, Ermete, 2011. "The stability of molten carbonate fuel cell electrodes: A review of recent improvements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4274-4293.
    19. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng & Yuan, Jinliang & Wang, Jiatang & Zhao, Jiapei & Wang, Fu & Miao, He & Hou, Shujin, 2019. "Performance assessment of a combined system consisting of a high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell and a thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 762-770.
    20. Zhang, Houcheng & Xu, Haoran & Chen, Bin & Dong, Feifei & Ni, Meng, 2017. "Two-stage thermoelectric generators for waste heat recovery from solid oxide fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 280-288.
    21. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2015. "Multi-objective optimization of a continuous thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1022-1029.
    22. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng, 2020. "Performance analyses of a combined system consisting of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    23. Seok Woo Lee & Yuan Yang & Hyun-Wook Lee & Hadi Ghasemi & Daniel Kraemer & Gang Chen & Yi Cui, 2014. "An electrochemical system for efficiently harvesting low-grade heat energy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-6, September.
    24. Chen, Liwei & Zhang, Houcheng & Gao, Songhua & Yan, Huixian, 2014. "Performance optimum analysis of an irreversible molten carbonate fuel cell–Stirling heat engine hybrid system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 923-930.
    25. Lee, Won-Yong & Kim, Minjin & Sohn, Young-Jun & Kim, Seung-Gon, 2017. "Performance of a hybrid system consisting of a high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell and an absorption refrigerator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 2397-2407.
    26. Sayyaadi, Hoseyn & Mehrabipour, Reza, 2012. "Efficiency enhancement of a gas turbine cycle using an optimized tubular recuperative heat exchanger," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 362-375.
    27. Moradpoor, Iraj & Ebrahimi, Masood, 2019. "Thermo-environ analyses of a novel trigeneration cycle based on clean technologies of molten carbonate fuel cell, stirling engine and Kalina cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1005-1016.
    28. Haghighat Mamaghani, Alireza & Najafi, Behzad & Shirazi, Ali & Rinaldi, Fabio, 2015. "4E analysis and multi-objective optimization of an integrated MCFC (molten carbonate fuel cell) and ORC (organic Rankine cycle) system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 650-663.
    29. Bizon, Nicu & Radut, Marin & Oproescu, Mihai, 2015. "Energy control strategies for the Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Source under unknown load profile," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 31-41.
    30. Chen, Lingen & Sun, Fengrui & Wu, Chih, 2005. "Thermoelectric-generator with linear phenomenological heat-transfer law," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(4), pages 358-364, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Yuewu & Li, Danyi & Chen, Zhuo, 2022. "Potential analysis of a system hybridizing dye-sensitized solar cell with thermally regenerative electrochemical devices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    2. Al-Nimr, Moh'd A. & Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Ali, Hussain A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a solar pond and underground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 663-675.
    3. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "Optimal design of a hybrid power generation system based on integrating PEM fuel cell and PEM electrolyzer as a moderator for micro-renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a biofuel stove," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    5. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "A novel electrochemical refrigeration system based on the combined proton exchange membrane fuel cell-electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    6. Zheng, Nan & Zhang, Hanfei & Duan, Liqiang & Wang, Qiushi, 2023. "Comprehensive sustainability assessment of a novel solar-driven PEMEC-SOFC-based combined cooling, heating, power, and storage (CCHPS) system based on life cycle method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Sijie & Zhang, Houcheng & Ni, Meng, 2016. "Performance assessment of a hybrid system integrating a molten carbonate fuel cell and a thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 520-527.
    2. Zhang, Xin & Cai, Ling & Liao, Tianjun & Zhou, Yinghui & Zhao, Yingru & Chen, Jincan, 2018. "Exploiting the waste heat from an alkaline fuel cell via electrochemical cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 983-990.
    3. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng, 2020. "Performance analyses of a combined system consisting of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    4. Han, Yuan & Zhang, Houcheng & Hu, Ziyang & Hou, Shujin, 2021. "An efficient hybrid system using a graphene-based cathode vacuum thermionic energy converter to harvest the waste heat from a molten hydroxide direct carbon fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    5. Chen, Ruihua & Deng, Shuai & Xu, Weicong & Zhao, Li, 2020. "A graphic analysis method of electrochemical systems for low-grade heat harvesting from a perspective of thermodynamic cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    6. Al-Nimr, Moh'd A. & Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Ali, Hussain A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a solar pond and underground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 663-675.
    7. Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a biofuel stove," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    8. Zou, Wen-Jiang & Shen, Kun-Yang & Jung, Seunghun & Kim, Young-Bae, 2021. "Application of thermoelectric devices in performance optimization of a domestic PEMFC-based CHP system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    9. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng & Wang, Jiatang & Zhao, Jiapei & Wang, Fu & Miao, He & Yuan, Jinliang & Hou, Shujin, 2020. "A new hybrid system composed of high-temperature proton exchange fuel cell and two-stage thermoelectric generator with Thomson effect: Energy and exergy analyses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2016. "Performance analysis of a dual loop thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 388-395.
    11. Han, Yuan & Lai, Cong & Li, Jiarui & Zhang, Zhufeng & Zhang, Houcheng & Hou, Shujin & Wang, Fu & Zhao, Jiapei & Zhang, Chunfei & Miao, He & Yuan, Jinliang, 2022. "Elastocaloric cooler for waste heat recovery from proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    12. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2016. "Ecological analysis of a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 95-102.
    13. Guo, Xinru & Zhang, Houcheng & Yuan, Jinliang & Wang, Jiatang & Zhao, Jiapei & Wang, Fu & Miao, He & Hou, Shujin, 2019. "Performance assessment of a combined system consisting of a high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell and a thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 762-770.
    14. Li, Baode & Long, Rui & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2016. "Performance analysis of a thermally regenerative electrochemical refrigerator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 43-51.
    15. Zhang, Xin & Ang, Yee Sin, 2022. "Conceptual design and performance optimization of a nighttime electrochemical system for electric power generation via radiative cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    16. Rahmad Syah & Afshin Davarpanah & Mahyuddin K. M. Nasution & Faisal Amri Tanjung & Meysam Majidi Nezhad & Mehdi Nesaht, 2021. "A Comprehensive Thermoeconomic Evaluation and Multi-Criteria Optimization of a Combined MCFC/TEG System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-29, November.
    17. Ou, Kai & Yuan, Wei-Wei & Kim, Young-Bae, 2021. "Development of optimal energy management for a residential fuel cell hybrid power system with heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    18. Chen, Xiaohang & Wang, Yuan & Zhao, Yingru & Zhou, Yinghui, 2016. "A study of double functions and load matching of a phosphoric acid fuel cell/heat-driven refrigerator hybrid system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 359-365.
    19. Long, Rui & Li, Baode & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2015. "Multi-objective optimization of a continuous thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1022-1029.
    20. Tang, Xin & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2021. "Effect of air gap on a novel hybrid photovoltaic/thermal and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:227:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221007386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.