Use of NaNiCl battery for mitigation of SOFC stack cycling in base-load telecommunication power system—a preliminary evaluation

  • Jakub Kupecki Institute of Power Engineering - Research Institute
  • Konrad Motyliński
  • Marco Ferraro
  • Francesco Sergi
  • Nicola Zanon

Abstract

Fuel cells are among the most promising technologies for clean power generation. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) arecharacterized by high efficiency, fuel flexibility and a wide range of operating conditions. SOFC are the preferredfuel cell technology for micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) units, but they are prone to rapid performancedegradation when exposed to thermal and electrical cycling. To overcome this issue, alternative methods aresought to assure high durability and long-lasting operation by mitigating the cycling. This can be achieved bylimiting the number of cycles and maintaining stable operating conditions. One of the proposed solutions is tocreate a hybrid system combining an SOFC stack with a molten salt (NaNiCl) battery module. The NaNiCl batteryis well known for its high energy density, high durability and zero electrochemical self-discharge. This hybridsystem is a solution in which the fuel cell stack and the battery module are thermally and electrically integrated andoperate as a part of a cogenerator. Since both modules operate at elevated temperature, heat generated in thestack can be partially used to maintain a sufficient operating temperature of the battery pack. The SOFC/batteryhybrid enables high operational flexibility which is achieved by proper selection of the power ratios between the twocomponents. In this configuration the battery pack can be used to stabilize operation of the fuel cell stack and toallow for load-following operation of the hybrid. To evaluate the operation of a SOFC/battery, the dynamic modelsof the battery and fuel cell stack were developed in Aspen Hysys 8.5. The simulator enables predictive modelingof various operating conditions corresponding to the different power demand profiles.In the transitional states of the telecommunication system, the hybrid unit can either charge or discharge thebattery without cycling the fuel cell stack. Simulations are needed to evaluate the performance of the SOFC/batteryhybrid system, in particular to analyze the capability to follow the load profile during operation in island mode.

References

[1] M. Ferraro, International innovation, Vol. 173, 2015, pp. 64–
66.
[2] J. Kupecki, Off-design analysis of a micro-chp unit with solid
oxide fuel cells fed by dme, International Journal of Hydrogen
Energy 40 (2015) 12009–12022.
[3] A. Baghernejad, M. Yaghoubi, K. Jafarpur, Optimum power
performance of a new integrated sofc-trigeneration system
by multi-objective exergoeconomic optimization, International
Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems 73 (2015) 899–
912.
[4] J. Milewski, J. Lewandowski, A. Miller, Reducing co2 emissions
from a gas turbine power plant by using a molten carbonate
fuel [ograniczenie emisji co2 z elektrowni dzieki zastosowaniu
weglanowego ogniwa paliwowego], Chemical and
Process Engineering - Inzynieria Chemiczna i Procesowa
29 (4) (2008) 939–954.
[5] J. Milewski, M.Wołowicz, A. Miller, R. Bernat, A reduced order
model of molten carbonate fuel cell: A proposal, International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy 38 (26) (2013) 11565–11575.
[6] J. Kupecki, Modelling of physical, chemical and material properties
of solid oxide fuel cells, Journal of Chemistry 1 (2015)
414950.
[7] M. Bianchi, A. De Pascale, F. Melino, Performance analysis
of an integrated chp system with thermal and electric energy
storage for residential application, Applied Energy 112 (2013)
928–938.
[8] A. van Zyl, Review of the zebra battery system development,
Solid State Ionics 86-88 (2) (1996) 883–889.
[9] C.-H. Dustmann, Advances in zebra batteries, Journal of
Power Sources 1127 (1-2) (2004) 85–92.
[10] C. Capasso, O. Veneri, Experimental analysis of a zebra battery
based propulsion system for urban bus under dynamic
conditions, Energy Procedia 61 (2014) 1138–1141.
[11] G. Li, X. Lu, J. Lim, J. Lemmon, V. Sprenkle, Improved cycling
behavior of zebra battery operated at intermediate temperature
of 175 °c, Journal of Power Sources 249 (2014) 414–417.
[12] D. Brett, P. Aguiar, N. Brandon, B. R.N., R. Galloway,
G. Hayes, K. Lillie, C. Mellors, C. Smith, A. Tilley, Concept and
system design for a zebra battery–intermediate temperature
solid oxide fuel cell hybrid vehicle, Journal of Power Sources
157 (2006) 782–798.
[13] D. Brett, P. Aguiar, N. Brandon, System modelling and integration
of an intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell and
zebra battery for automotive applications, Journal of Power
Sources 163 (2006) 514–522.
[14] Web site of onsite project (August 20th 2015).
URL www.onsite-project.eu/index.html
[15] J. Lorincz, T. Garma, G. Petrovic, Measurement and modelling
of base station power consumption under real traffic loads,
Sensors 12 (2012) 4281–4310.
Published
2016-04-04
How to Cite
KUPECKI, Jakub et al. Use of NaNiCl battery for mitigation of SOFC stack cycling in base-load telecommunication power system—a preliminary evaluation. Journal of Power Technologies, [S.l.], v. 96, n. 1, p. 63--71, apr. 2016. ISSN 2083-4195. Available at: <https://papers.itc.pw.edu.pl/index.php/JPT/article/view/738>. Date accessed: 28 mar. 2024.
Section
RDPE 2015 Conference

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Obs.: This plugin requires at least one statistics/report plugin to be enabled. If your statistics plugins provide more than one metric then please also select a main metric on the admin's site settings page and/or on the journal manager's settings pages.