Title: Exergo-economic analysis of a hybrid anode and cathode recycling SOFC/Stirling engine for aviation applications

Authors: Ehsan Gholamian; Pedram Hanafizadeh; Pouria Ahmadi

Addresses: Center of Excellence in Design and Optimization of Energy Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, 1417614418, Iran ' Center of Excellence in Design and Optimization of Energy Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, 1417614418, Iran ' Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (ISEE), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

Abstract: This paper presents an application of solid Oxide fuel cell/Stirling system for the aviation applications. Exergy and exero-economic are applied to enhance the understanding of the system performance. Among various kinds of fuel cells, the one with anode and cathode recycling unit is more complex and more effective. Here, a combined cycle based on a methane-fuelled SOFC and a Stirling engine is proposed and analysed. EES is used to simulate the system and analyse the results. Results show that with the integration of Stirling engine to the SOFC, exergy efficiency increases about 13.66%. Results also demonstrate that air heat Exchanger, SOFC and afterburner have the highest exergy destruction respectively. In addition, exergo-economic results show that the highest and the lowest exergo-economic factors are for the SOFC stack (77.93%) and AHX (2.269%) respectively and thus exergy destruction rate in AHX and investment costs in SOFC should decrease.

Keywords: SOFC/Stirling; anode and cathode recycle; aviation; exergo-economic.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSA.2018.092915

International Journal of Sustainable Aviation, 2018 Vol.4 No.1, pp.11 - 30

Received: 24 Jan 2018
Accepted: 25 Feb 2018

Published online: 02 Jul 2018 *

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