AUTHOR=Kuo Po-Chih , Illathukandy Biju , Özdemir Faruk , Woudstra Theo , Aravind P. V. 

TITLE=Thermodynamic analysis of a novel integrated biomass pyrolysis-solid oxide fuel cells-combined heat and power system for co-generation of biochar and power

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.731191

DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2022.731191

ISSN=2296-598X

ABSTRACT=Biochar derived from pyrolysis or gasification has been gaining significant attention in the recent years due to its potential wide applications for the development of negative emissions technologies. A new concept was developed for biochar and power co-generation system using a combination of biomass pyrolysis (BP) unit, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), and a combined heat and power (CHP) system. A set of detailed experimental data of pyrolysis product yields was established in Aspen Plus to model the BP process. The impacts of various operating parameters including current density ( ), fuel utilization factor ( ), pyrolysis gas reforming temperature ( ), and biochar split ratio ( ) on the SOFC and overall system performances in terms of energy and exergy analyses were evaluated. The simulation results indicated that increasing the  ,  , and   can favorably improve the performances of the BP-SOFC-CHP system. As a whole, the overall electrical, energy and exergy efficiencies of the BP-SOFC-CHP system were in the range of 8-14%, 76-78%, and 71-74%, respectively. From the viewpoint of energy balance, burning the reformed pyrolysis gas can supply enough energy demand for the process to achieve a stand-alone BP-SOFC-CHP plant. In case of a stand-alone system, the overall electrical, energy and exergy efficiencies were 5.4%, 63.9% and 57.8%, respectively, with a biochar yield of 31.6 %.