Effect of gasified biomass fuel on load characteristics of an intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine hybrid system

This work uses the mathematical model of an intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine (IT-SOFC/GT) hybrid system to study the effects of gasified biomass fuels on system load characteristics. The system performance is investigated by using four types of fuels in each adjusting mode. The relation between the fuel type and load adjusting mode is obtained for users and designers to select the appropriate fuel for reasonable operation modes. Results show that the hybrid system of 182.4 kW has a high electric efficiency of 60.78% by using wood chip gas (WCG). If cotton wood gas (CWG) and corn stalk gas (CSG) are used, both boundary values of steam to carbon ratio (S/Cbv) and system power are higher, but system efficiencies decrease to 57.36% and 57.87% respectively. In the designed three load adjusting modes, the system can reach maximum efficiency over 59% with four types of biomass gases. If high efficiency and a wide range of load adjustment are required, users can select Case B to use fuels like WCG and GSG. When higher efficiency and low load is expected, Case A is more desirable. With fuels like CWG and CSG, the system has good safety performance in Case C. •Analyze the performance of IT-SOFC/GT hybrid system using different gasified biomass.•Study the impact of fuel types on system component operation characteristics.•Propose three adjusting modes to study variable load characteristics of the system.•Investigate the matching between fuel types and load adjusting modes.•Obtain indicative results for users to select appropriate fuels for reasonable modes.