Optimal design of gas turbine-solid oxide fuel cell hybrid plant

In the present study, a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell-gas turbine power plant consisting of a compressor, SOFC stack, heat exchangers, combustor and turbines is considered. Individual models are developed for each component through applications of the first law of thermodynamics and the corresponding cost of each component is also presented. Two objective functions including the total thermal efficiency of the system and the capital cost of the plant are defined. Since any effort to decrease the total cost of the plant leads to a less efficient system, the considered objective functions are conflicting. Therefore, multi-objective optimization using genetic algorithm is utilized in order to achieve a set of optimal solutions, each of which is a trade-off between objective functions. The main advantage of this work is providing a wide range of optimal results each of which can be selected by the designer considering available investment and the required efficiency of the system.