Techno-economic analysis of a fuel-cell driven integrated energy hub for decarbonising transportation

Samiran Samanta; Dibyendu Roy; Sumit Roy; Andrew Smallbone; Anthony Paul Roskilly

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2023.113278

Techno-economic analysis of a fuel-cell driven integrated energy hub for decarbonising transportation

Samiran Samanta, Dibyendu Roy, Sumit Roy, Andrew Smallbone, Anthony Paul Roskilly

University of Durham

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

In this study an advanced integrated multigeneration energy hub is conceptualized combining solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser and methanol production unit. Using natural gas as a primary fuel input along with the renewable green excess electricity the proposed energy hub has a potential of generating electrical power, heat for district heat network, methanol for transportation use and oxygen for industry use. The thermodynamic analysis of the conceptualized multigeneration energy hub reveals that it can generate 322 kW electrical power, 766.4 kW heat, 0.024 kg/s methanol, and 0.0362 kg/s pure oxygen with 86.03% energy efficiency and 59.13% exergy efficiency. However, the economic analysis reveals that the annualized levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the proposed energy hub is 0.06 £/kWh without having a battery storage and 0.065£/kWh with the battery storage system. The simple payback period of the proposed system is 2.16 year and 2.75 year without battery storage and with battery storage system, respectively. Two different case studies have been carried out by replacing the SOFC-MCFC combined unit with gas turbine (GT) combined with MCFC and GT combined with aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) plant as two other alternative options for such multigeneration energy hub keeping other subunits unaltered. It has been found that the proposed system has the highest exergy efficiency, lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and payback period followed by the GT-MCFC combined plant, and GT-MEA combined plant.

Original language	English
Article number	113278
Number of pages	18
Journal	Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Volume	179
Early online date	11 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.113278
Publication status	Published - Jun 2023
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funder

This research work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council of UK (Grant numbers: EP/T022949/1 and EP/S032134/1).

Keywords

Carbon capture and utilization
e-methanol
Molten carbonate fuel cell
PEM electrolyser
Solid oxide fuel cell
Techno-economic analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.rser.2023.113278Licence: CC BY

Roy2023VoRFinal published version, 7.15 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Techno-economic analysis of a fuel-cell driven integrated energy hub for decarbonising transportation",

abstract = "In this study an advanced integrated multigeneration energy hub is conceptualized combining solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser and methanol production unit. Using natural gas as a primary fuel input along with the renewable green excess electricity the proposed energy hub has a potential of generating electrical power, heat for district heat network, methanol for transportation use and oxygen for industry use. The thermodynamic analysis of the conceptualized multigeneration energy hub reveals that it can generate 322 kW electrical power, 766.4 kW heat, 0.024 kg/s methanol, and 0.0362 kg/s pure oxygen with 86.03% energy efficiency and 59.13% exergy efficiency. However, the economic analysis reveals that the annualized levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the proposed energy hub is 0.06 £/kWh without having a battery storage and 0.065£/kWh with the battery storage system. The simple payback period of the proposed system is 2.16 year and 2.75 year without battery storage and with battery storage system, respectively. Two different case studies have been carried out by replacing the SOFC-MCFC combined unit with gas turbine (GT) combined with MCFC and GT combined with aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) plant as two other alternative options for such multigeneration energy hub keeping other subunits unaltered. It has been found that the proposed system has the highest exergy efficiency, lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and payback period followed by the GT-MCFC combined plant, and GT-MEA combined plant.",

keywords = "Carbon capture and utilization, e-methanol, Molten carbonate fuel cell, PEM electrolyser, Solid oxide fuel cell, Techno-economic analysis",

author = "Samiran Samanta and Dibyendu Roy and Sumit Roy and Andrew Smallbone and Roskilly, {Anthony Paul}",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).",

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AU - Roskilly, Anthony Paul

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KW - PEM electrolyser

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Techno-economic analysis of a fuel-cell driven integrated energy hub for decarbonising transportation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funder

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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