A novel ammonia molten alkaline fuel cell based integrated powering system for clean rail transportation

Due to the pressure put on the rail transportation sector by governments to find alternative cleaner solutions for powering future locomotives, this study proposes a new ammonia molten alkaline fuel cell powering system with three Rankine cycles for waste heat recovery. This new system produces electric power, space heating or cooling, and hot water at the same time. It is then analyzed thermodynamically using energy and exergy tools. At the reference case, the three Rankine cycles have improved the overall energy efficiency by 13.57% compared to a standalone molten alkaline fuel cell. Also, parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system under different conditions. The system can achieve improved energy and exergy efficiencies of 47.92% and 52.61%, respectively. Since ammonia is used as a fuel, carbon-free exhaust gases leave the system which makes this system environmentally desirable. •A novel system of molten alkaline fuel cell with Rankine cycles is introduced.•Thermodynamic analysis is performed on this new fuel cell based system.•Parametric studies and optimization of the integrated system are conducted.