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Life cycle assessment of an SOFC/GT process

Abstract

For the last few years much effort has been put into the research on different kinds of fuel cells, since these are considered to be both an efficient and environment friendly way to convert energy. The fuel cell studied here is the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that works at a high temperature (800-1000 C) and today achieves a stand-alone electric efficiency of approximately 50%. When integrating the SOFC in a gas turbine process (SOFC/GT process) an efficiency of 70-75% can be reached. The SOFC and the SOFC/GT process are considered to be environment friendly regarding the discharges during operation. Especially formation of nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) is low since the SOFC temperatures are low compared to NO{sub x} formation temperatures. To study the whole environmental impact of the SOFC/GT process a life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to find the `hot spots` in the process` life cycle. Since the SOFC/GT process is under development today the collected data are mainly from literature and articles based on laboratory results. When performing the LCA only the SOFC-module and the gas turbine are included. A collection of data of all processes included, extraction of minerals, processing of raw material, production of  More>>
Publication Date:
Jun 01, 1999
Product Type:
Technical Report
Report Number:
LUTMDN-TMVK-5312
Reference Number:
SCA: 300502; PA: SWD-99:007353; EDB-99:084473; SN: 99002124457
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Jun 1999
Subject:
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; SOLID ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS; LIFE CYCLE; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; GAS TURBINES; TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT; RECYCLING; 300502; PERFORMANCE AND TESTING
OSTI ID:
10154556
Research Organizations:
Lund Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Heat and Power Engineering
Country of Origin:
Sweden
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Journal ID: ISSN 0282-1990; Other: ON: DE99760457; TRN: SE9907353
Availability:
OSTI; NTIS
Submitting Site:
SWD
Size:
148 p.
Announcement Date:
Sep 29, 1999

Citation Formats

Olausson, Pernilla. Life cycle assessment of an SOFC/GT process. Sweden: N. p., 1999. Web.
Olausson, Pernilla. Life cycle assessment of an SOFC/GT process. Sweden.
Olausson, Pernilla. 1999. "Life cycle assessment of an SOFC/GT process." Sweden.
@misc{etde_10154556,
title = {Life cycle assessment of an SOFC/GT process}
author = {Olausson, Pernilla}
abstractNote = {For the last few years much effort has been put into the research on different kinds of fuel cells, since these are considered to be both an efficient and environment friendly way to convert energy. The fuel cell studied here is the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that works at a high temperature (800-1000 C) and today achieves a stand-alone electric efficiency of approximately 50%. When integrating the SOFC in a gas turbine process (SOFC/GT process) an efficiency of 70-75% can be reached. The SOFC and the SOFC/GT process are considered to be environment friendly regarding the discharges during operation. Especially formation of nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) is low since the SOFC temperatures are low compared to NO{sub x} formation temperatures. To study the whole environmental impact of the SOFC/GT process a life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to find the `hot spots` in the process` life cycle. Since the SOFC/GT process is under development today the collected data are mainly from literature and articles based on laboratory results. When performing the LCA only the SOFC-module and the gas turbine are included. A collection of data of all processes included, extraction of minerals, processing of raw material, production of the components, operation of the SOFC/GT process and transports between all these processes. These data are then added up and weighted in impact categories to evaluate the total environmental impact of the SOFC/GT process. All these steps are performed according to the ISO 14040-series. The stand-alone most contributing phase during the life cycle of the SOFC/GT process was found to be the production of the SOFC. All processes during the production of the SOFC are carried out under laboratory circumstances, which require more energy and materials than if the processes were commercialised and optimised. For the SOFC/GT process to be competitive with other energy converting processes regarding the discharges of emissions to the air, the use of energy and materials must be lowered and a lifetime of at least 40 000 hours must be achieved. Also a sophisticated waste management system ought to be developed and effort put into recycling of the SOFC, which is not the case today Examination paper. 38 refs, figs, tabs}
place = {Sweden}
year = {1999}
month = {Jun}
}